The Indian hockey groups continued their upward development in 2022, with the womens facet barely outperforming their male counterparts by clinching a Commonwealth Games medal — a bronze after 16 years.

In Birmingham, each the Indian women and men groups picked up their third CWG medals.

While the mens group gained silver, the ladies bagged a podium end after 16 lengthy years. The Indian girls had gained gold on the Manchester CWG in 2002 and silver at Melbourne 4 years later.

The Indian womens group defeated 2018 Gold Coast CWG champions New Zealand 2-1 within the penalty shootout to say the rostrum end.

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Towards the tip of the 12 months, the ladies proved that the CWG bronze was not a fluke as they continued their upward graph underneath Dutch coach Janneke Schopman, defeating Spain 1-0 to win the inaugural FIH Nations Cup in Valencia and qualify for 2023-24 FIH Pro League.

The girls proved they had been no pushovers anymore in world hockey as they remained unbeaten within the Nations Cup, placing up sensible performances to reclaim their Pro League spot.

The girls had completed a creditable third of their debut Pro League season in 2021-22 however did not qualify for the 2022-23 season.

The 12 months began on a vivid word for the womens group because it completed third within the Asia Cup, beating China 2-0 within the bronze-medal match. The Indians, nonetheless, misplaced out on a medal within the Junior World Cup by a whisker after shedding 0-2 to England within the bronze-medal sport in Potchefstroom, South Africa in April.

To rub salt into Indias wounds, the ladies endured a forgettable World Cup in Spain and Netherlands, ending ninth with one win, three attracts and two losses. But they bounced again in model and fought their strategy to the rostrum in Birmingham a month later.

The males too witnessed success in 2022, essentially the most notable being the silver in Birmingham. But greater than the rest, the group would nonetheless be smarting from the 0-7 drubbing by the hands of Australia within the CWG closing. It was a nightmarish outing for Graham Reids males as they had been bamboozled by the Kookaburras in all departments of the sport.

But the Indian males had their share of success as effectively. They started the 12 months with a third-place end within the Asia Cup in Jakarta and adopted it up by profitable the inaugural FIH Hockey 5s event in Lausanne, the place they beat Poland 6-4 within the closing.

In between, India additionally gained the tenth Sultan of Johor Cup, a world mens under21 event, beating Australia 4-5 on penalties after each groups had been locked 1-1 on the finish of regulation time.

India performed three Pro League matches, two in opposition to New Zealand and one in opposition to Spain, on the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. While India defeated New Zealand 4-3 and 7-4, they misplaced 2-3 to Spain.

Towards the tip of the 12 months, the mens group toured Australia for a five-Test collection, the place it challenged the world no.1 facet in all departments of the sport.

The Indians might need misplaced the high-scoring collection 1-4, however they proved that they’ve improved by leaps and bounds after the CWG closing drubbing and will likely be a power to reckon with within the World Cup to be co-hosted by Bhubaneswar and Rourkela from January 13 to 29 subsequent 12 months.

Change of guard ************** The 12 months additionally witnessed a change of guard within the nationwide federation with former skipper Dilip Tirkey turning into the president of Hockey India, with Hockey Jharkhands Bhola Nath Singh taking on as secretary.

But it was not clean crusing when it comes to administration of the sport within the nation. Hockey India was put underneath a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) by the Delhi High Court after observing that the federation had violated the National Sports Code.

The court docket ruling got here on a petition filed by former India participant Aslam Sher Khan, who had challenged Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batras appointment as life member of Hockey India.

At one time limit, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) had issued a risk to the nationwide physique to conduct elections and set the home so as or else “jeopardise the mens World Cup.

But the CoA and the sports activities ministry labored along with FIH and managed to save lots of India from a significant embarrassment.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal employees and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)