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FIH has announced the Hockey Pro League from 2019 ... Total nine men's and women's teams from around the world would compete against each other both home and away basis every year ... The League will run between January and June every year, will see a total of 144 one-off matches.

The Men's teams - Argentina, Australia, Belgium, England, Germany, India, Netherlands, New Zealand and Pakistan (Pakistan playing their home matches in Scotland.)

The Women's teams - Argentina, Australia, China, England, Germany, India, Netherlands, New Zealand and USA.

These matches will give our players huge exposure of playing against top teams.

FIH's Hockey Pro League to kick off in January 2019

India have pulled out of this league!

HI has reasoned that our women stand a better chance of qualifying for Olympics via continental championships or HWL (not sure about this method of qualification), but couldn't pull out just women's team so took out men's team as well. Decision had to be made by 17/717 to avoid 2 yr international ban from FIH.

HI is in a crazy mood currently (even more crazier than usual!!) as they recently complained about match fixing at the recent HWL semis in London. They accused a British MP (of Pakistani origin) as behind an untimely police interview for Sardar Singh. HI claim that this was done deliberately to de-stabilize the team. What a load of bull***t!! The team were pathetic against Malaysia and Canada- nothing to do with a match fixing, especially as they thrashed Pakistan 6-1 in between! And if they have to rely on one player, then they are doomed.

Here's an excellent article describing qualification routes for Tokyo:

https://be-hockey.com/what-is-happening-in-india/

Hockey India named the women's team for the FIH Pro League. News

Indian women’s squad:

GOALKEEPERS: Savita (C), Bichu Devi Kharibam

DEFENDERS: Gurjit Kaur, Nikki Pradhan, Udita, Ishika Chaudhary, Monika, Jyoti Chhatri

MIDFIELDERS: Nisha, Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke, Neha, Navneet Kaur, Salima Tete, Sonika, Jyoti, Baljeet Kaur, Sunelita Toppo

FORWARDS: Mumtaz Khan, Beauty Dungdung, Lalremsiami, Sangita Kumari, Deepika, Vandana Katariya (VC), Sharmila Devi

Women have lost 3 games in a row, why are they still being funded?

Well they are recent Asian champions, 4th in last Olympics etc. Hopefully, they have some new talent coming through so that this is just a step back before a bigger step forward.

by Sin Hombre » Fri Feb 09, 2024 2:44 am

Women have lost 3 games in a row, why are they still being funded?

It'll be 4 losses tonight. Good question regarding funding. Wasted so much money on tours and coaches and then make crazy selections- no drag flickers for vital tournaments or drop key players for no reason, yet keep this useless coach.

The men are not much better. Hopefully they won't lose all their matches, but there could be some big thrashings. We have wasted 3 years since Tokyo by not renewing the squad. So many 30+ yr olds. Instead we have gone back to the likes of Akashdeep, Lalit and Raj Kumar Pal and dropped youngsters like Karthi Selvan and Shilanand and Sanjay. My 'favourite' Mandeep is always chosen. Utter madness. We have no hope at the Olympics. QF loss is best we can hope for.

Our women finally get a win. 3-1 win against USA today. Maybe Vandana Katariya back for this series has made some difference. Some of the youngsters like Salima Tete and Deepika are talented. If a good coach comes along and selection right, they can bounce back.

I wouldn't put the men in the same bucket as the women.

Outside of the home WC where we finished 9th despite not losing a game (4 wins, 2 draws), the men's team has performed to expectations finishing 3rd and 4th in the FIH Pro League and winning the Asian Games and Asian Champions Trophy.

This is ok for a team ranked 4-6 imo.

Yes, except for that world cup they have been ok. Now, in next 2 weeks they play Netherlands, Australia and Spain twice ( and Ireland too) which will show where we stand.

Starting with Spain today at 7.30 pm India time.

Looks like there are some young players who are being blooded here-

Hard hitter, artful midfielder and tall striker: Three young hockey players hope to impress as India aim to finalise Paris Olympics squad

Comfortable win against Spain 4-1.

Very pleasant surprise to see us beating Spain4-1. We lost to them in a mini tournament in Spain recently, where we lost to Germany & Belgium (7-2!!) before sneaking a 5-4 win v France. We lost badly to the Dutch in RSA a few weeks ago too (5-1), so I'm hoping we put up a better fight this time. Against the Aussies, it's usually a slaughter.

2-2 draw in normal time against Netherland and than 4-2 win in penalty shootout. Not bad at all.

India tied Netherlands 2-2 and the beat them 4-2 in the penalty shootout! So, we are leading the Pro League on a ppg basis!

The Indian women lost to China 1-2. China is playing surprisingly well in FIH Pro League and are currently 2nd on a ppg basis out of the 7 teams that have played matches so far. India is currently 5th out of the 7 teams ahead of GBR and USA (and BEL and GER have yet to play any matches).

https://www.fih.hockey/events/fih-pro-l ... ints-table