Sport in India - Field Hockey

Field Hockey

Field hockey was considered to be the national game of India, but this has been recently denied by the Government of India, clarifying on a RTI filed that India has not declared any sport as the national game.

Until the mid-1970s, India dominated international field hockey, winning eight Olympic gold medals and won the inaugural Men's Hockey World Cup held in 1975. Since then, barring a gold medal in the 1980 Olympics, India's performance in field hockey has been dismal, with other hockey-playing nations such as Australia, Netherlands and Germany improving their standards and catching up with India. Its decline is also partly due to the internal politics in Indian field hockey bodies. Its popularity has also declined massively in parallel to the decline of the Indian hockey team. In recent times, the standard of Indian hockey has gone form from bad to worse, with the Indian hockey team not qualifying for the 2008 Olympics and finishing last in the recent 2012 Olympics. Currently, the Indian team is 11th in the FIH rankings.

India has hosted 2 Hockey World Cups- one in 1982 at Mumbai and another in 2010 at Delhi, where they finished fifth and eighth respectively. It has also hosted the annual Hockey Champions Trophy in 1996 and 2005.

Until 2008, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) was the apex body for hockey in the country. However, following revelations of corruption and other scandals in the IHF, the IHF was de recognised and a new apex body for Indian hockey, Hockey India (HI), was formed on 20 May 2009. Hockey India, recognised by the FIH, has the sole mandate to govern and conduct all activities for both men's and women's field hockey in India. Although the IHF was reinstated in 2010, it is not recognised by the FIH. The IHF conducts a city-based tournament called World Series Hockey (WSH), its first season being in 2012. However, it is not approved by Hockey India or the FIH.

Hockey India League (Hindi: हॉकी इंडिया लीग), abbreviated as HIL, is a professional league for field hockey competition in India. It is organised by Hockey India. The tournament contested among franchisee-based teams consisting of players from India and around the world. The entire event takes place on home and away basis culminating into multi header playoffs. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has sanctioned the event and also provided a 30-day window at the beginning of next year so that all top players can participate.