M.S.Unnikrishnan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 11
Twelve teams, divided into two pools of A and B, will play in the FIH Hero Honda World Cup Hockey Championship, to be held at Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi from February-March, next year.
According to the format of the tournament, there will be three matches daily at the pool stage, for the first 10 days. The teams will be grouped on the basis of the updated FIH rankings after the Champions Challenge I, presently being played in Argentina. There will be rest days prior to the semifinals and the classification matches.
India were placed 12th in the last FIH rankings, released in September, with the teams at the pecking order being: Germany, Australia, Spain, Netherlands, Korea, England, Pakistan, New Zealand, Belgium, Argentina, Canada, India, China, Japan, South Africa, Malaysia, France, Ireland, United States and Austria.
When the groupings of the World Cup are announced in mid-December, the presence of Argentina would cause trepedation among the Asian teams, particularly India and Pakistan. Argentina had emerged as giant-killers during the 1975 World Cup at Kuala Lumpur, when they stunned eventual champions India.
And for the coming World Cup, Argentina have qualified narrowly, as after being down 1-3, they clawed back to beat Belgium 4-3 in the final of the World Cup qualifiers in Quilmes last month.
Pakistan had an enviable record of 15 straight wins in the World Cup, which included their title triumps at Buenos Aires in 1978 and in Mumbai in 1982, and were deemed to be the favourites at the London World Cup.
But Argentina stunned the defending champions 3-1, and Pakistan finished a rung above the bottom place, at the 11th position.
The Latin American team also proved to be the bugbear of Pakistan at the 2002 Kuala Lumpur and 2006 Monchengladbach (Germany) World Cups. And the Pakistan team have never ever been the supremos they once were. A four-nation tournament will be held at the National Stadium, which is set to be completed by December 15, in January to test the facilities ahead of the World Cup.