The 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup will begin in less than a week in the Indian cities of Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in Odisha.
Most of the 16 participating nations have arrived in the eastern Indian state and action will begin on January 13 with the pool matches and culminate with the final on January 29.
Timesofindia.combrings to you some of the interesting facts and trivia ahead of the mega tournament:
1) Four-time champions Pakistan, the most successful World Cup team to date, failed to qualify for the 2023 edition. It's their second absence from the World Cup since missing the 2014 edition.
2) The 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup will be the fourth occasion when India will be hosting the premier FIH tournament. Mumbai 1982, Delhi 2010 and Odisha 2018 were the last three times India hosted the event -- the most by any country.
Image credit: Hockey India
3) Belgium are the defending champions at the 2023 edition, which is the 15th since the Men's Hockey World Cup was instituted in 1971.
4) The 2023 World Cup also celebrates 50 years of the men's tournament since its inception in 1971.
5) India is the first nation to host a Hockey World Cup twice in a row.
1/10:Men's Hockey World Cup 2023: MEET TEAM INDIA
TIMESOFINDIA.COM
2/10:PR Sreejesh
<p>Age: 34; Position: Goalkeeper; Caps: 274</p>TIMESOFINDIA.COM
3/10:Krishan B Pathak
<p>Age: 25; Position: Goalkeeper; Caps: 80</p>TIMESOFINDIA.COM
4/10:Jarmanpreet Singh
<p>Age: 26; Position: Defender; Caps: 50; Goals: 6</p>Getty Images
5/10:Surender Kumar
<p>Age: 29; Position: Defender; Caps: 172; Goals: 4</p>Getty Images
6/10:Harmanpreet Singh, Captain
<p> Age: 26; Position: Defender; Caps: 164; Goals: 126</p>Getty Images
7/10:Varun Kumar
<p>Age: 27; Position: Defender; Caps: 118; Goals: 29</p>Getty Images
8/10:Amit Rohidas, vice-captain
<p>Age: 29; Position: Defender; Caps: 131; Goals: 19</p>Getty Images
9/10:Nilam Sanjeep Xess
<p>Age: 24; Position: Defender; Caps: 34; Goals: 5</p>Getty Images
10/10:Manpreet Singh
<p>Age: 30; Position: Midfielder; Caps: 314; Goals: 24</p>Getty Images6) It is the first time that a Men's Hockey World Cup is being hosted in two cities -- Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in Odisha, India
7) Since 1982, it will be the first occasion when India will be playing at a Hockey World Cup as a medallist from the last Olympics. The Indian men's team won a bronze medal at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in 2021, ending a 41-year wait to return to the Olympic podium.
8) India have won a Hockey World Cup only once, when the men's team lifted the trophy in 1975 with a 2-1 win over Pakistan in the final in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
9) The 2023 edition will be the seventh in an Asian country, but none of the three hosts -- India, Pakistan and Malaysia -- ever managed to win the trophy.
10) The new purpose-built Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela is now India’s second biggest hockey stadium with a capacity of 20,000. Chandigarh is the country's biggest with 30,000 capacity.
Image credit: Hockey India
11) Wales and Chile will make their Men's Hockey World Cup debut.
12) Rajinder Singh is the only Indian player to have finished as a top scorer at a Hockey World Cup. His 12 goals in the 1982 World Cup in Bombay stood at the top among that edition's goal-scorers.
13) Gonzalo Peillat - the top-goal scorer in the 2014 World Cup and the second best in 2018 -- will be seen in Germany colours after he switched his nationality from Argentina to Germany in 2022.
14) Like Piellat, his former Argentina teammate Joaquin Menini, who played the 2014 and 2018 World Cups for Argentina, has also switched his loyalties and will be playing for Spain.
15) Belgium's John-John Dohmen is the most-capped player at the 2023 World Cup with 436 international matches under his belt.
