"This is the first time I will play in Kalinga Stadium," she had said in one of her interviews. At the packed stadium, the skipper led the team to a bum-squelching (6-5 on aggregate) win. After 120 minutes, she thanked the people for coming out to support the side. "Special thanks to the people who have turned out in large numbers at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar to support and motivate us," she posted on social media.
The crowd that watched the two games against the US — and stayed back for the men's own two-legged qualifier against Russia — showed there was enough appetite to watch a women's hockey match in this country. Yet, that remains one of the few times they have played in front of their own fans since the beginning of 2016.
Even as Hockey India have bid for and successfully staged FIH men's events, a multi-nation women's FIH event has not been staged in India since New Delhi hosted one at the beginning of 2015. The numbers do not make pleasant reading. Since 2016, there have been 188 men's FIH matches (at the completion of the group stage of the ongoing World Cup) in India.
For women, that number stands at 8. It's slightly better if you want to go back to 2015 to take into account the last time the federation hosted a multi-nation women's FIH event — World League Round 2 — but the skewed nature is still galling (232 to 32). Put it this way. Hockey India have bid and hosted as many as two men's junior World Cups after their last multi-nation senior women's event. Pull the curtain back and it certainly doesn't make good reading to note that India has hosted as many as 12 men's FIH events in the time they have hosted two women's FIH events.
Why? Questions to a senior Hockey India official went unanswered.
Now, it's important to place on record that HI wasn't uninterested in hosting a top women's competition. In fact, they were among the initial countries to show some interest in hosting either the men's or the women's World Cups in the January 13-29, 2023, window. This was in early 2019. Yet, a few weeks before Rampal & Co.'s pulse-pounding victory at Kalinga, the federation quietly withdrew their application to host the women's World Cup before firming up their interest in hosting the men's competition.
Why? Questions to a senior HI official went unanswered.
This may not be relevant to this particular debate but HI do have previous when it comes to their women's team. Remember the coach swap several years back when they deemed a coach as not good enough for the men's team but decided the person was good enough to coach the women's side? At some level, the women's side also lost out big time when the body decided to pull both their teams from the first edition of the Pro League in 2019. The men's team featured in the second instalment from 2020 but the women's team didn't feature because the International Hockey Federation (FIH) were happy with the status quo.
While India will continue to host at least one FIH property for the time being — the Pro League — which will feature both sides, there is no saying if/when HI will bring a women's World Cup to the country. For 2026, a joint-bit from Netherlands-Spain was deemed as the right one to host both the men's and women's World Cups simultaneously. 2030 (FIH confirmed to this daily that there's no requirement to host both World Cups together)?
It's too early to speak about something seven years into the future. For starters, the FIH could look at creating or resurrecting events or HI may look at a four-nation or a six-nation invitational. For their part, Odisha will be interested. "If Hockey India wins the bid to Host FIH Women’s events, we will definitely be happy to support and host them. It will boost the development of Women’s hockey in the state," R Vineel Krishna, the state's sports secretary, told this daily.
In the 'About Hockey India' section that comes as part of their emails, these three lines grabs eyeballs. "... Hockey India has also pioneered in bringing top International hockey events to India such as the FIH Men's World Cup in 2010 and 2018, FIH Champions Trophy in 2014, FIH Junior Men's World Cup in 2016 and 2021, FIH Hockey World League Final in 2017. With its vision to popularize the game and constantly promote it, Hockey India has brought the Indian Men's Hockey Team into the top three in the world. Hockey India is also dedicated to getting the Indian Women's Hockey Team into the top three in the world." That's true. But you read it a few times and you may be enveloped by an uncomfortable silence.
No international hockey meets in the pipeline: Krishna
Even as the FIH hinted that the Odisha government had a proposal to host an international meet, Krishna batted away those suggestions. None at the moment (if Odisha is planning to host any event immediately apart from the Pro League)," he said. "At (the) State level, Odisha’s hockey teams – men’s, women’s, juniors and various age groups — have moved to Rourkela. However, the High-Performance Centre will continue to be run from the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
*Ongoing