A cracker of a contest on the cards BHUBANESWAR: At the 2012 London Olympics, as the Germany hockey team celebrated their gold-medal feat, Belgium were on their way home, having finished fifth. The Red Lions went back to the drawing board. Over six years they reinforced their strengths, worked on their weaknesses and did not stop until they achieved their goal of being the best in the world. The skills. The goals. The last-minute drama. This is how we got here 🤯 The stage is set for the biggest game of all. Germany vs Belgium in the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 🇩🇪🏆🇧🇪 Watch the #HWC2023 final tomorrow at 14:30 CET on the https://t.co/igjqkvzwmV app 📲 pic.twitter.com/Kt6dx4GIlx — International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) January 28, 2023 Germany, on the other hand, are still looking for a major championship title a decade later. From a country with virtually no hockey culture, the defending champions became the most talked about with World Cup (2018), European Championship (2019) and Olympic (2020) title triumphs. Belgium’s walk of champions began at the same venue in 2018 and they will hope to win their second title in as many appearances in the final. Come Sunday night at the Kalinga stadium here, the two teams will seek to stake claim for the FIH World Cup. The golden generation of Belgian hockey will eye a final hurrah and who better than the giant-killers from Germany to stand in their way. The teams have played tough semifinal matches. While Germany snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the last seven seconds against Australia, Belgium showed nerves of steel to eliminate Netherlands. One more sleep ⏳⌛️#HWC2023 Final | January 29 | https://t.co/jG4WwmGdQe pic.twitter.com/KjSo38jkX8 — Watch.Hockey (@watchdothockey) January 28, 2023 There are many subplots to the stirring all-European contest, age being one of them. Belgium is the oldest team in the competition with 11 players above the age of 30. Five among the Germans feature in the 30+ category, six if you count their 39-year-old coach Andre Henning. But Felix Denayer and his Belgium team are no picture of ageing legs or aching limbs. They have outpaced and outplayed younger teams time and again. The finale will be won as much on tactics and technique as it will be on mental strength. Henning is aware of what his men are up against. “At the moment, they are the best team. We respect them for what they have achieved. I have coached them at the U-18 level and they were already the strongest team in Europe at that time so I saw this coming. We would like to stop them but I don’t think they are vulnerable or have any disadvantage, so it won’t be easy,” explained the German coach. One factor that could play on the mind of the Belgians is the momentum which favours Germany. Belgium weren’t really tested up until Netherlands almost ousted them. Germany has been like instant noodles. In their previous two matches, it’s taken them just two minutes to convert their undercooked performance to match-winning shows. Here is how the teams finished at #HWC2023:9th – 🇮🇳🇦🇷11th – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇿🇦13th – 🇫🇷🇲🇾15th – 🇨🇱🇯🇵 More details on the classification here: https://t.co/9XCLnbCRIE (2/2)@TheHockeyIndia @ArgFieldHockey @SA_Hockey @HockeyWales @FF_Hockey @hockeymalaysia @chile_hockey @jha_hockey pic.twitter.com/bmsgiScb3L — International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) January 28, 2023 Germany’s spirit is not lost on Belgium’s coach Michel Van Den Heuvel, who knows how the slow starts can turn the match on its head in a few seconds. “As a natural character Germany are able to finish well. There is an old saying in Holland, you always win from the Germans when they are on the bus.” The match promises to be a great advertisement for hockey with the starry line-ups. Belgium’s citadel is well protected with Vincent Vanasch under the bar. Tom Boon, has been the live wire and their top-scorer while the likes of Arthur Van Doren, Victor Wegnez, John-John Dohmen and Arthur de Sloover are all match-winners. Source: TIMESOFINDIA.COM | January 29, 2023

Bhubaneswar, 29 January: In a ceremony held on the eve of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela final, FIH President Tayyab Ikram presented the FIH President’s Award to Mr. V.K Pandian, Secretary (5T) to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha, for his outstanding contribution to hockey. “What we have witnessed here in Odisha in the last 2 weeks is truly exceptional! Not only the state-of-the-art facilities but also the passion showcased by the Odisha people for hockey – as much for the Indian team as for the others – has been an absolute delight to experience. Together with Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik, Mr. Pandian has played a pivotal role in making this World Cup such a resounding success globally! I’m very honored to present him the FIH President’s Award as a mark of deep gratitude from FIH and myself for his personal support and that of the State of Odisha”, the FIH President stated. On receiving the prestigious award, Mr. Pandian said: “I am deeply honoured and humbled to receive the FIH President’s Award. I am not the recipient of this Award, I am only the representative of Team Odisha which has put its heart and soul in making this World Cup a grand success. We are inspired by the vision of Hon’ble Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik”. Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey said: “I have seen the contribution of Mr Pandian over last two decades towards the field of sports, especially hockey. Since he himself is a sports person, he understands the requirements and always strive to provide the best facilities for the sportspersons. His role is most critical in translating into reality the vision of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to make Odisha as a major sports destination”. The FIH President’s Award recognises individuals or National Associations or other organisations for valuable services to hockey, whether direct or indirect, or initiatives which have had a significant effect on hockey at international level.

It was a venue and crowed befitting a World Cup final as 20 000 fans packed into Rourkela to watch South Africa and India play for a top 10 spot at the global showpiece. The game marked the 200th game for Mandeep Singh, a remarkable achievement. The African Champions will be disappointed by their slow start to the game and found themselves trailing five minutes in. Abishek received the ball at the top of the circle, created space with his first touch and fired a blistering strike into the backboard. The crowd were superb in supporting every foray forward by the host nation and their players were clearly buoyed by the support. They continued to furrow forward and found themselves a penalty corner which was smashed home by Harmanpreet Singh. South Africa settled into the game and were unlucky not to pull a goal back when Bili Ntuli hit the outside of the goal post. South Africa consistently broke up play and tried their best to get a goal back, while Gowan Jones was on form whenever he was called on. South Africa had three penalty corners as they pushed the Indian defense and continued to ask questions. But despite the circle entries, the clear-cut chances were limited outside of the penalty corners as the game trudged its way to the end of the third quarter. But just before the hooter ending the third quarter Shamsher Singh peeled off the back of the defenders and tapped in unmarked on the back post. They made it 4-0 with an instinctive finish by Akashdeep Singh early in the fourth quarter before the outstanding goal of the game arrived. It was however from the stick of the South Africans. An overhead ball to Samkelo Mvimbi was brought down brilliantly and he roofed the ball superbly. South Africa continued to search for a second, but India scored on the counterattack. South Africa would have the opportunity for a last laugh as Mustapha Cassiem stood up and finished a sensational stroke. That would be that and the game would end 5-2 to the Indians who ended a disappointing World cup on a high. For the South Africans and 11th place finish, above their ranking of 14th shows the continued progress being made.   Source: SAHockey.co.za | January 28, 2023

The final day of classification matches of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 were played in the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela as Argentina and India registered wins to end their campaigns in the 9th position, while Malaysia and France finished on wins as well, ending their campaigns in the 13th position. Losses for Wales and South Africa, saw them finish 11th, while Japan and Wales ended their campaigns in 15th place. Match 1: Malaysia vs Japan 3-2 Malaysia struck early in the battle of the two Asian teams as a penalty corner won by Ashari was scored by Shello Silverius with Malaysia opting for a variation as Razie Rahim pushed the ball wide for a deflection that beat the post defender and goalkeeper. Both keepers were immense in the first quarter saving attempts that looked like they were destined to find the goal. Malaysia captain Marhan Jalil was shown a yellow card in the second half as the team had 12 players on the field and Japan took advantage earning 2 penalty corners and scoring from the resulting side out after the Malaysian rusher had chased down the second penalty corner. Japan and Malaysia traded goals early in the 32nd minute with Seren Tanaka scoring for Japan, and Shello Silverius scoring his second of the game for Malaysia, to keep the teams on level terms. Two minutes later Malaysia were back in the lead as Faiz Jali found Irfan all alone in the circle on the left and his flat snuck under the Japanese keeper. Japan had a good spell of pressure to end the third quarter but couldn’t make it count, not finding the mark from 3 penalty corners. Japan tried to find an equaliser in the final quarter and received a boost when Malaysia were reduced to 10 players with Najmi Jazlan receiving a yellow card, but the experienced pair of Razie Rahim and Marhan Jalil kept Japan out brilliantly as Malaysia edged them for a narrow win. Shello Silverius was awarded player of the match and said: “We wanted to finish higher than this overall but for today we wanted to end this tournament on a high and we dedicate this win to our supporters back in Malaysia.” Match 2: Chile vs France 2-4 Chile were coming into the game on the back of two big losses, but showed a lot of heart early in the contest to take the game to France. They created circle entries but the French deep defence held strong to stop the Chilean attackers from getting their shots away. France primarily looked to capitalise on counter attacks with Chile leaving plenty of space behind their last line of defence. France opened the scoring on one such counter through Eliot Curty and added two more in quick succession through Victor Charlet to stun Chile. Chile kept coming at France and pulled a goal back from a penalty corner of their own, with Franco Beccera getting on the scoresheet to go into the half-time break down 1-3. The third quarter followed a similar pattern to the first as Chile pressed high in search of a goal while France defended deep and looked for counter attacking opportunities. France scored first in the second half as a cross by Xavier Gaspard deflected off the keeper’s boot and snuck into the goal. Chile scored one of their own as a long cross from the left found Andres Pizzaro completely unmarked in the back post and he tapped the ball into an empty goal. Chile’s push for another goal went until the final whistle, but while they created plenty of circle entries, they lacked the final shots at the end of it and the game finished at 4-2. Victor Charlet was awarded player of the match and said: “It’s always good to finish with a win. Our target was making quarterfinals and we didn’t make that, but at least we ended the tournament with a good performance.” Match 3: Argentina vs Wales 6-0 Before the game Wales coach Daniel Newcombe said that playing in the 9th/11th place game was a great achievement for the team in their debut campaign but they wouldn’t be happy with just that and wanted to end the campaign with a win. The Welsh team answered their coach’s call and started the game with a lot of attacking intent. Argentina were stifled for the first quarter as Wales dominated possession in the Argentine half, but they couldn’t find the goal to cap off a great quarter. Argentina were much improved in the second quarter and scored early through Lucas Toscani. They added a second when Martin Ferreiro’s cross from the left side of the circle was inadvertently deflected into his own goal by Joan Wall, to give Argentina a 2-goal lead going into the break. Argentina set the tone early in the third quarter with Agustin Bugallo scoring an absolute ripper on the reverse from the top of the circle. And soon they added a fourth from a penalty corner as Santiago Tarazona pounced on the rebound from the initial save and tapped the ball into the goal. Welsh shoulders started to drop, as despite the competitive nature of the game, Argentina had played the big moments well and put the game beyond the European debutants. Maico Casella, who has been Argentina’s best player in the World Cup added a 5th goal for the Leones and Ferreiro scored his second to make it 6 in the final quarter. Martin Ferreiro was awarded player of the match and said: “It’s a great feeling to win two games back to back, even though we didn’t meet our targets overall. You take two big wins on the trot to wrap up a World Cup.” Match 4: South Africa vs India 2-5 India took on South Africa in their final game of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023, in front of yet another packed crowd in the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium

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