Day one of Men’s Hockey World Cup

The 14th edition Men’s Hockey World Cup 2018 has two matches slated for day one. All four playing teams are from Pool C.

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Bhubaneswar: The opening match of the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup is being held in between the formidable Red Lions Belgium and Canada. It has already begun (at 5 pm IST) at Kalinga stadium, Bhubaneswar and Belgium is leading 2-0 by half-time. Ironically, Canada defeated India at the World League Semifinals in London this year to gain entry for world cup. The experience of captain Scott Tupper and Gordon Johnston in defence, will be invaluable for the eleventh-ranked Canadians. Thomas Briels led Belgian team themselves begun their year by defeating India at Four-Nation Invitational at New Zealand earlier this year, but ended up finishing fifth ahead of Pakistan.

The second encounter of the day will be between host India and South Africa. The South Africans are currently placed at 15 as per FIH rankings. Last time, the two teams met in Delhi World Cup in 2010 where SA had lost to team India 2-3. SA captain Tim Drummond would like not to repeat the same this year. Manpreet Singh led team India seem up for the challenge. Experts believe that the current Indian team is a lot better and may be can rewrite history this year.

The  second match is slated at 7 pm IST.  All matches will be held at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. Viewers can also watch matches on television on Star Sports Network along with Doordarshan. The Kalinga Stadium is expected to be at its full capacity with crowds cheering for team India.

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