FIH President Tayyab Ikram and FIH CEO Thierry Weil addressed the media at a press conference today at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. Both answered questions relating to the overall development of hockey and the 2023 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup. “I congratulate all stakeholders involved in making this Hockey World Cup a grand success. The global hockey family is delighted that the World Cup was organised in Odisha. Our sincere gratitude to Hon’ble Chief Minister Sri Naveen Patnaik and his dynamic team as they put in one of the best platforms for our athletes to perform”, said the FIH President in his opening remarks. “We are in touch with the Odisha government to hold more tournaments here. The investment that has been done here is simply outstanding and we will make sure that we have the proper use of it,” he added. Here are some of the excerpts from the media interaction: India holding most of the FIH events: FIH President: “We are not only focusing on India. As you know, the next World Cup will be held in Belgium and the Netherlands. But India is a big market and we’re fortunate that some of our events have been held here.” Making the sport financially sustainable: FIH CEO: “Hockey hasn’t got the needed commercial value yet. Once we get it, our sport will become financially sustainable. Media and marketing play a key role to promote our sport at the highest level. We are trying hard with broadcasters and other stakeholders to make our sport reach out to a global audience.” Teams ranked on the same position (for example, two teams ranked 9th): FIH President: “We are happy with how the ranking or classification system is right now. For us, the most important thing is the players’ well-being and mental health. Also, we need to make the sport cost-effective for all teams.” Injuries: FIH President: “As per my knowledge, injuries mostly happen when a player has a very short reaction time. Therefore, it’s more about making the game safer for all and we at FIH are working on that.” India’s matches not being telecast on television: FIH CEO: “We have been working hard on how to get more viewership on television. Also, as you all know, we have launched our Watch.Hockey app where all the matches are streamed live, but it’s not available in India because of some contractual obligations. Our efforts have always been to make hockey accessible to all and probably in the next few months you won’t miss a single match where your country plays.” On new surfaces coming into play: FIH CEO: “We want to thank our partners and suppliers, who have worked hard to develop a surface where we can play hockey without water. We used it for our Hockey5s event in Lausanne last year. In the future, pitches won’t need water. For sustainability, it’s very important to save water.”

29 January, 2023 The final day of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 was played in the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar as Germany were crowned the champions of the world, defeating the defending champions Belgium in a thrilling finals, where they went down by 2 goals early in the first quarter but fought their way back again and took the game into a shoot-out, where they held their nerves in the sudden deaths, winning 5-4. With the win Germany also claimed the top spot in the FIH Men’s World Outdoor Rankings. Earlier in the day Netherlands and Australia went head-to-head in the bronze medal match, where Jeremy Hayward gave them an early lead, but an incredible 3-goal burst in 8 minutes in the third quarter, with captain Thierry Brinkman scoring twice, gave Netherlands the lead that they would take to the end and win the bronze medal. With the win, followed by Belgium’s loss in the finals, Netherlands move up to the second position in the FIH Men’s World Outdoor Rankings, followed by silver medalists Belgium who are now ranked third ahead of Australia, who end the tournament ranked fourth. Bronze Medal Match: Australia vs Netherlands 1-3 Netherlands started the game on the front foot, with Theijs van Dam getting a powerful shot into the circle looking for a Dutch deflection, but Hoedemakers couldn’t get on the end of the cross and Australia survived an early scare. Australia started settling into the game midway through the first quarter and a pass into the circle by Jeremy Hayward found captain Zalewski open on the right of the goal, but his shot/cross went wide off the mark with Blake Govers missing a deflection from point blank range. Australia scored the opening goal of the game through Jeremy Hayward who scored his 100th goal in his 200th appearance for Australia. It was a double blow for the Dutch who had referred the penalty corner and lost their review early in the first quarter. Netherlands won their first penalty corner of the game in the 20th minute but Jip Janssen’s powerful flick went straight as an arrow and Charter managed to pull off a comfortable save to deny Netherlands from their first big chance since the opening minute. Both teams traded opportunities to close the opening half, with big chances falling to Koen Bijen for the Dutch and Blake Govers for the Kookaburras, but both star forwards were off targets with their running shots and the teams headed into the break with Australia holding a slender one-goal advantage against Netherlands. Netherlands started the second half with a high press, which was a tactic that worked quite well for Germany in the semi-finals. The ploy seemed to work well for Netherlands as well as they earned three quick penalty corners inside the first two minutes of the second half, and with the third attempt, Jip Janssen opened his account in the game with a powerful drag to the right of Charter to bring the teams level. Two minutes later, Netherlands were in the lead as a clearance attempt by Tim Howard was blocked by Wortelboer in the circle and the resulting loose ball was put into the goal by Dutch captain Thierry Brinkman. Australia started to press higher in search for an equaliser, but it was Netherlands again who capitalised with a quick counter as van Dam’s run from the half line produced a cross that found Brinkman unmarked at the back post and he made no mistake in doubling Netherlands lead. Australia entered the final 15 minutes needing to score at least 2 goals to keep their hopes of winning a medal at the World Cup alive. Their high press gave Netherlands a lot to do in defence, but Jorrit Croon, along with Blok and Jansen, were stellar in the Dutch defensive circle, stopping waves of Australian crosses into the circle. Netherlands believed they had scored the 4th goal of the game midway through the quarter with Koen Bijen knocking the ball into the goal on the back post, but a foul in the build up reversed the goal as Australia breathed a sigh of relief. But Netherlands continued their excellent defence and as time ran out, they ran out winners, earning their third bronze medal at the men’s World Cups. Captain Thierry Brinkman was awarded player of the match and said: “We were playing quite well in the first half but couldn’t convert our chances. We didn’t change anything in the second half, we were just better at converting our opportunities and the way we have played today and through the tournament, we deserve this bronze medal.” Gold Medal Match: Germany vs Belgium 3-3 (SO: 5-4) Germany took on Belgium in the finals hoping to win their 3rd gold medal at the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cups to go level with Australia and Netherlands and one behind Pakistan who have won the event 4 times; while Belgium aimed to become just the 4th team, after Pakistan, Germany & Australia, to defend their title successfully. Belgium started the game on the front foot, creating an early circle entry, but Tom Grambusch was alert to the chance and intercepted a cross right in front of the goal and cleared the danger. Germany won a penalty corner in the 6th minute, referring the original decision which had gone against them. The resulting penalty corner was well defended by first rusher Cosyns who blocked Gonzalo Peillat’s attempted flick. Belgium opened the scoring in the 10th minute as a long corner deflected high off a German stick and fell to Florent van Aubel at the top of the circle and he took the shot on in his stride and smashed the ball into the goal before Stadler could react! Less than a minute later Belgium had doubled their lead as a cross from the left deflected off a German stick and fell to Simon Gougnard who had to get the slightest of touches to put

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BHUBANESWAR: At 0-2 down in a World Cup final, comebacks need nerves of steel. Germany and Belgium took turns to show that in a test that refused to end, until Belgium died a ‘sudden death’, which gave the Germans a third Men’s Hockey World Cup title — first since 2006. It was Germany first who put the game on a knife’s edge by erasing a two-goal deficit to level it 2-2 and then go into the lead at 3-2. It was then the turn of the defending champions. They did it! The COMEBACK KINGS of #HWC2023 are crowned WORLD CHAMPIONS 💪 Insane scenes after the win #HockeyInvites #HockeyEquals #Germany #WorldCup @DHB_hockey pic.twitter.com/TSD1RGPkKo — International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) January 29, 2023   ON THE TOP OF THE WORLD 👑 Congratulate Die Homonas on their finale victory over #HWC2018 Champions @BELRedLions! FT: 🇩🇪 GER 3️⃣-3️⃣ BEL 🇧🇪(SO) 5️⃣-4️⃣#HWC2023 #GERvsBEL #HockeyComesHome #HockeyHaiDilMera pic.twitter.com/2tMHPq9hkE — Odisha Sports (@sports_odisha) January 29, 2023 The Red Lions’ refusal to give up earned them a penalty corner and Gonzalo Peillat once again came to the party to make it 3-3 and push the game into a shootout. Full Time: GER 3-3 BEL Shoot-out:BEL : ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌GER : ✅ ✅ ❌ ✅ ❌✅ ✅ GERMANY ARE THE CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD! Germany get the better of the defending champions Belgium in the shoot-outs and win their 3rd FIH Hockey Men's World Cup title!#HWC2023 — International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) January 29, 2023   Niklas Wellen is your Player of the Match for scoring two penalties and a penalty corner to become World Champions 🌏🏆 🇩🇪 GER 3-3 BEL 🇧🇪 (SO 5-4)#HockeyIndia #HWC2023 #HockeyWorldCup #StarsBecomeLegends #GERvsBEL @CMO_Odisha @sports_odisha @IndiaSports @Media_SAI @DHB_hockey pic.twitter.com/6cdu9EJFsR — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) January 29, 2023   But that wasn’t enough to give the 15th edition of the World Cup its winner. It remained 3-3 in the shootout as well, until Tanguy Cosyns missed for Belgium in sudden death to see the Germans, clad in black shirts, running towards goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg. Had Belgium won, they would have been the fourth team to successfully defend the title after Pakistan (1978 and 1982), Germany (2002 and 2006) and Australia (2010 and 2014). The game of fine margins didn’t open that way. The Germans defended for most part of the first five minutes, until their first meaningful entry into the Belgian circle earned them a penalty corner after a video referral. But Peillat, who hit a hat-trick against Australia in the semifinal, wasn’t in his elements by then. His drag-flicks were sorted out by the Belgian rushers. It was the 10th minute when the Belgian ascendancy resulted in a goal. Tom Boon got a loose ball and went for a tomahawk, but the ball took a deflection from a German stick to go out for a long corner. Belgium didn’t waste time to restart, and Florent van Aubel managed to control a bouncing ball from Antoine Kina, which he slammed into the German post on the bounce. A minute later, Kina once again came up with an assist that turned into a goal. Cosyns placed himself beautifully at the end of Kina’s cross from inside the circle to cutely deflect the ball in behind goalkeeper Alexander Stadler to increase Belgium’s lead to 2-0.  Vanasch continued to keep the Germans at bay, coming up with brilliant saves, including a penalty stroke in the 19th minute. A push challenge from behind on Moritz Trompertz by Arthur van Doren inside the circle resulted in the referee awarding a penalty stroke. But Vanasch didn’t let Tom Grambusch’s attempt go past him. Four minutes after that, Marco Miltkau tried a cheeky deflection off a slap from the edge of the 23-yard line but it sailed harmlessly over Vanasch and the crossbar. Looking desperately for a goal before half-time, it was Niklas Wellen, who became a father during the tournament, provided that for Germany off a variation on a penalty corner. Controlling a ricochet that tapped twice on his stick, Wellen smashed it into the goal to make it 2-1. Belgium were down to 10 men in, when Nicolas de Kerpel was shown a green card in the 40th minute. The next minute the Germans took advantage and made it 2-2, with Peillat’s shot finally finding a way through on a penalty corner to sound the board.  And when Mats Grambusch pulled off a stunning goal out of nowhere from an acute angle in the 48th minute, the chants of ‘Belgium, Belgium’ from a small group of the Red Lions’ supporters were hushed. The Germans were now leading 3-2, after being down 0-2. The defending champions had no choice left than to pull out all stops, which is what they did to up the ante in the last five minutes.  Back-to-back penalty corners for Belgium put the German defence under pressure. And just when the Germans had one hand on the trophy, Boon deposited the ball into the net in the 59th minute to make it 3-3, which is what the score remained at the end of 60 minutes. The shootout extended to 14 attempts each from the customary five as the World Cup final required a sudden-death tie-breaker to find the winner.Belgian custodian Vanasch and Danneberg, who replaced Stadler in the German post for the shootouts, were now in focus and both did their job by saving two attempts each, which ended the shootout at 3-3 as well. Man-of-the-Match Wellen and Thies Prinz converted for Germany in sudden-death but only van Aubel could score for the defending champions. And when Cosyns failed to beat Danneberg, the 15th edition of the Men’s World Cup had its champion – Germany. List of Awards Fair Play Award: Team Belgium Maximum Team Goals: Netherlands Best Team Goal Celebration: Korea Fan’s Choice Award: Christopher Rühr (Germany) JSP Foundation Best Junior Player of the Tournament: Mustaphaa Cassiem (South Africa) Hero Top Scorer: Jeremy Hayward (Australia) JSW Best Goalkeeper: Vincent Vanasch (Belgium) Best Defender: Jeremy Hayward

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