Terrassa (Spain): The crème de la crème of women’s hockey will spring into action as the world’s top 16 will battle for the coveted FIH World Cup crown with eight-time record winners Netherlands eyeing a hat-trick of titles and India looking for a scoop.
Defending champions The Netherlands, which would organize the tournament together with Spain from 1 to 17 July, is the most dominant outfit in women’s hockey. She won the world title eight times and finished second four times.
The Dutch women also have four Olympic golds, two silvers and three bronzes in their kitty, making them favorites to defend the title.
Argentina, Australia and Germany are a distant second, having won the tournament twice each.
However, the tournament kicks off with a Pool C match between host Spain and Canada in Pool C, whose best result was a second-place finish in the 1983 edition in Kuala Lumpur.
The 16 teams in the tournament are divided into four groups of four teams each. The top four teams from each pool qualify directly for the quarter-finals, while the second and third-placed teams participate in the crossovers.
In the crossovers, the second-placed team from Pool A plays against the third from Pool D and vice versa, while the second from Pool B faces the third from Pool C and vice versa for the remaining four quarter-finals.
Group A consists of Germany, Chile, the number two of the previous edition Ireland and the Netherlands, Group B has India, China, England and New Zealand. Pool C consists of Argentina, Canada, Korea and Spain and Pool D consists of Australia, Belgium, Japan and South Africa.
Entering the tournament, the Netherlands would be full of confidence after winning the FIH Pro League, where Belgium finished second and India a creditable third place in their debut season.
While India’s best performance in the tournament was a fourth-place finish at the inaugural edition in 1974, they won’t be a disappointment in this edition of the event as they’ve been on an upward trajectory after taking a historic fourth-place finish at the Olympic Games of last year in Tokyo.
The Indian women’s team took their best-ever sixth-place finish in the world rankings in May this year, giving some of the world’s top teams a run for their money in the FIH Pro League to finish on the podium ahead of teams such as Argentina, Australia and England.
And the Janneke Schopman-coached Indian side would dream of registering its name in the record books by finishing in the top four in this tournament, which is certainly not impossible. India starts their campaign against England on Sunday.
While the Dutch part of the tournament is hosted by Amstelveen, the semifinals and finals of the tournament will be played here.
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