Former hockey captain Zafar Iqbal believes that it’ll not be straightforward for India to win the Men’s World Cup once more after 47 years because the hosts are in a troublesome pool with Spain, England and Wales. The mega occasion is scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela from January 13 to 29.
India’s solely gold within the World Cup got here within the 1975 Kuala Lumpur version beneath the captaincy of Ajit Pal Singh. Zafar mentioned if the hosts handle to complete on the rostrum after their bronze medal on the Tokyo Olympics, it might be a fantastic achievement. Australia, Belgium, Netherlands, India, Argentina, Germany, New Zealand, England, France, Korea, Malaysia, Spain, South Africa, Japan, Chile and Wales are the 16 groups that can struggle for the title.
India are positioned fifth in Pool D forward of world No. 6 England, No. 8 Spain and No. 15 Wales.
“In world class competitions, you by no means know who shall be in high kind. Many groups are very robust, akin to Belgium, Netherlands, Australia, England, Spain and India.
“We may have robust matches within the group levels. We have Spain, England and Wales, and all equally robust in their very own proper. I’m certain if India stays on the rostrum, will probably be a fantastic achievement.
“We have many brave gamers in our workforce, who at all times give their finest and who had been the heroes of the Tokyo Olympics. So, we hope they’ll repeat the success as soon as once more.”
Zafar, a member of India’s 1980 Moscow Olympic gold medal-winning facet, mentioned the continued soccer World Cup is an instance of how any workforce can pull off a big-ticket sporting occasion.
“Former world champions Spain, Germany and Brazil are all out of the Football World Cup. You by no means know which workforce can win over which workforce in a event like this. It’s at all times unpredictable and the boys’s hockey world Cup 2023 can also be unpredictable. They mentioned.
Zafar, who additionally featured within the males’s World Cup in Mumbai in 1982, mentioned AstroTurf has utterly modified the sport and modern-day hockey is all about energy.
In our time, hockey was performed on grass. But by the 80s, AstroTurf had changed grass in most components of the world. Even although the 1982 World Cup was performed on grass at house, we weren’t at our greatest and couldn’t qualify for the semi-finals.
“Now, AstroTurf has turned hockey into an influence sport. Sportsmen must get fitter and have extra vitality. We needed to undertake the European fashion of attacking hockey.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
