Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018 – India

The 14th edition of Men’s World Cup Field Hockey known as Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018 will be held from 28 Nov 2018 to 16 Dec 2018 at Kalinga Stadium Bhubaneswar in Odisha India.

The First Hockey World Cup was played in Barcelona Spain at Real Polo Grounds from 15-24 October 1971. Ten teams participated and Pakistan beat Spain 1-0 in the final to lift the trophy. India were placed third.

Pakistan has dominated this event having won the event Four times, Australia and Netherlands have won it three times each , Germany has won it twice and India has won it once in 1975.

A Philatelic insight into Hockey shall be given in the next 10 days through Philately on this site so please look out for some interesting Philatelic Material from across the globe

Any article or write up on Hockey is incomplete without the mention of Dhyan Chand’s contribution to Indian and World Hockey.

Major Dhyan Chand was born at Allahabad on 29 August 1905. He is considered as one of the greatest players in the history of Field Hockey. He was known as “Wizard of Hockey” and “Magician” for his superb ball control. He won three Olympic Gold Medals with the Indian Hockey team  (1928,1932,1936). In the 1936 Berlin Olympics India beat Germany 8-1 in the finals and he scored three out of the eight goals. It is believed that Adolf Hitler became envious of his skills and offered him German residency which he declined. He is believed to have scored 400 International Goals in his career.

He retired from the Punjab Regiment of Indian Army as a Major in 1956 and in the same year was honored with the third highest Civilian award Padma Bhushan by Government of India.  29 August his birthday is celebrated as National Sports Day. A Special Cover was issued on 29 August 2017 at Bengaluru featuring Dhyan Chand to mark the day as National Sports Day.

He passed away at Delhi on 03 December 1979.