International Competition
The biggest two field hockey tournaments are the Olympic Games tournament, and the Hockey World Cup, which is also held every 4 years. Apart from this, there is the Champions Trophy held each year for the six top-ranked teams. Field hockey has also been played at the Commonwealth Games since 1998. Amongst the men, India has won 8 Olympic golds and Pakistan lead in the world cup having lifted it 4 times. Amongst the women, Australia has 3 Olympic golds while Netherlands has clinched the World Cup 6 times. The Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament and Sultan Ibrahim Ismail Hockey Tournament is for the junior team but both tournament held annually in Malaysia, is becoming a prominent field hockey tournament where teams from around the world participate to win the cup.
India and Pakistan dominated men's hockey until the early 1980s, winning four of the first five world cups, but have become less prominent with the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and Spain gaining importance since the late 1980s, due to introduction of artificial turf instead of the grass fields around the 80s decade. Other notable men's nations include Argentina, England (who combine with other British "Home Nations" to form the Great Britain side at Olympic events) and Korea. Despite recent downfall in international rankings, Pakistan still holds a record four World Cup wins.
The Netherlands was the predominant women's team before field hockey was added to Olympic events. In the early 1990s, Australia emerged as the strongest women's country although retirement of a number of players weakened the team. Other important women's teams are Argentina, China, Korea, Germany and South Africa.
Read more about this topic: Women's Field Hockey
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