Men's Hockey World Cup 2018 Schedule PDF: Download PDF file with Fixtures & Time Table
Seven teams from Europe, four from Asia, two from Australasia, one each from North and South America, and one from Africa will battle it out, over eighteen days, for hockey's biggest prize, in Bhubaneswar.
The Pakistanis, who have been the most successful side in the history of the competition with four titles to their credit are now ranked thirteenth in the world, and face a humongous challenge after being drawn in Pool D alongside three-time title-holders Holland, two-time winners Germany, and Malaysia.
Defending champions and three-time gold-medalists Australia have a relatively less forbidding task on hand, as they find themselves in Pool B alongside old foes England, Ireland, and World Cup debutants China.
Olympic champions Argentina will be the favourites to top Pool A ahead of New Zealand, Spain, and France while the Belgian Red Lions who won silver at Rio 2016 will be up against India, Canada, and South Africa in Pool C.
India, currently ranked fifth in the world will attempt to make it to the World Cup semifinals for the first time in 43 years - a feat they last managed en route to a historic gold in 1975.
The Indians will have the benefit of, what is expected to be, a plain-sailing lung opener against South Africa (world ranking #15) on November 28 - which is just as well considering the formidable challenge they will up against the following Sunday.
The Red Lions who rose rapidly to occupy the third slot in the world rankings have proven to be a quite a roadblock in India's path on numerous occasions in the past, but the hosts are slowly but surely managing to get under the skin of the Belgians as they displayed, earlier this year in the Four-Nations Invitational at New Zealand, and the Champions Trophy.
India's last pool match will be against a lower-ranked team against whom they have sweated and stuttered on quite a few occasions - notably, within the last couple of years. On December 8, Harendra Singh's team take on Canada, a side they shockingly lost to in a classification match of the Hockey World League Semifinals last year.
At the Rio Olympics too, the Canadians managed to hold India to a draw and the hosts will be eager to make amends at Bhubaneswar.
Sixteen teams, divided into four pools will battle out in an effort to advance to the quarterfinals but only the pool toppers will be accorded the privilege of a direct entry. The second and third-placed sides will attempt to make it to the last eight via the crossovers with several intriguing possibilities in store.
Follow each match of the World Cup with the fixtures, dates, and timings by downloading the schedule below:
You can download the PDF file by clicking here.