Pakistan will not compete in the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 as a result of its failure to place among the top four teams in the Asia Cup.
The 16-team tournament, which begins in Indian cities Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in nine days, will feature the top four hockey-playing countries in Asia: India, Japan, Malaysia, and Korea. The Hockey World Cup now features sixteen nations in competition, up from the previous limit of just 12.
The four-yearly action is, however, being missed by Pakistan, the four-time world champions and 17th-ranked team in the globe.
“It is really unfortunate that a country like Pakistan is not part of the 16-team World Cup. We cannot get an easier opportunity of qualifying for the event. It was just a cakewalk, yet we missed it. As a former world champion, I feel really bad and depressed not to see Pakistan as one of the contesting teams in India,” Khawaja Junaid, one of the members of the World Cup 1994 winning team said.
“I am really concerned about the Pakistan hockey players who could have gained necessary exposure by playing against the world’s best teams,” he said.
The FIH Men’s World Cup will be hosted by the same country twice for the first time ever because the 2018 edition was also held in the Indian state. Following the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup in 2018 the Indian city also hosted the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup in 2021 and the FIH Hockey Pro League during the previous 4 years.
On the first day of the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023, games will be played in both Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.
Argentina, who won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, will play South Africa, the current African champions and winners of the most recent FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup, in the opening game on January 13 at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar.
More Pool-A action between World No. 1 Australia and the quickly improving French squad will follow.
