17 October,2026 08:29 AM IST | Mumbai | Ashwin Ferro
Head coach Craig Fulton (right) looks at skipper Harmanpreet Singh (second from right) during the shootout defeat to Belgium that resulted in India’s eighth-place finish at the FIH World Cup in Belgium in August. Pic/Hockey India
There's something really good and something really bad about the current Indian men's hockey team. The good thing is that they continue to dominate Asia. The bad thing is that they have struggled against the world's best.
The results of skipper Harmanpreet Singh's team over the past couple of years underline this contradiction. While India have consistently delivered in continental competitions, their performances in tournaments featuring the world's leading teams have exposed significant shortcomings.
Since retaining their Olympic bronze medal at Paris 2024, India have competed in six major tournaments:
. They won the 2024 Asian Champions Trophy in China.
. They finished eighth in the nine-team 2024-25 FIH Pro League.
. They won the 2025 Asia Cup in Rajgir, Bihar.
. They finished eighth in the nine-team 2025-26 FIH Pro League.
. They finished eighth at the 2026 FIH World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands.
. They won the 2026 Asian Games gold medal in Japan.
The contrast is telling. India continues to be a force in Asia, but their performances against stronger international opposition have raised questions about their ability to compete with the world's best.
The FIH rankings underline the challenge. While Germany, Belgium, Australia, Argentina and the Netherlands are occupying the top five positions respectively. India (No. 8) are the highest-ranked Asian team, with Pakistan (12), Malaysia (14), Japan (16), South Korea (20)
and China (21) far behind.
The obvious solution is to ensure India play regularly against higher-ranked opposition. Instead, the sport's national governing body, Hockey India (HI) is preparing to host the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) in Punjab (Oct 27 to Nov 5), with Malaysia, South Korea, China, Japan and Bangladesh (No. 27) joining the hosts. Jalandhar will host the ACT's opening ceremony and league-stage matches, before the tournament moves to Mohali for the semi-finals on November 4 and the medal matches on November 5.
There is no denying the importance of bringing international hockey back to Punjab, a state with a rich hockey tradition and a passionate fan base, but the larger question is whether this tournament will address India's shortcomings against the world's leading teams. Another competition against familiar Asian opponents will bring more silverware, but it is unlikely to prepare the side for the challenges that await at the highest level. There is little doubt that
Punjabi fans will turn out in force and celebrate India's victories with song and bhangra. But the celebrations will count for little if India's players continue to dance to the tunes of higher-ranked opposition at global competitions.
Inviting a top-ranked, non-Asian team to Punjab for a Test series to give Indian players valuable exposure to different playing styles, greater intensity and the tactical demands of facing the best in the business, would have been a better idea. But it's difficult to seek sound ideation from a federation that's instead dealing with infighting between its President Dilip Tirkey and Secretary General Bholanath Singh. HI needs to get its house in order immediately because, with India having qualified for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, every training session, match, and competition hereon should be in preparation for that all-important quadrennial showpiece.
Instead, after this ACT tournament, India will be travelling to New Zealand (No. 9), another team ranked lower than them, for a three-match Test series next month (Nov 19, 21, and 22).
The desperate need for India to play quality opposition stems from not just its poor results in major non-Asian competitions, but also from some embarrassing defeats en route. India's hockey aficionados will never forget the 0-8 thrashing at the hands of Argentina in the FIH Pro League on that Terrible Thursday of February 12 this year in front of a passionate home crowd at Rourkela's Birsa Munda Stadium. It matched India's previous worst defeat - a 0-8 loss to Australia in the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medal match at New Delhi's Major Dhyan Chand Stadium. I was covering those Games and remember calling my editor back in Mumbai and telling him that I felt ashamed by the scoreline and didn't know what to write in my match report. His response was, "Write exactly that." So, the next day's headline in mid-day's sports pages read:
âOur hockey correspondent was too ashamed to file a report.'
That memory is a grim reminder of how badly things can go when Indian hockey comes up against superior opposition. HI must ensure such history never repeats. And the only way to do that is by helping this team strike the right balance between maintaining its continental supremacy and preparing for the demands of world hockey by consistently competing with the best, right up to LA 2028.
mid-day's Sports Editor Ashwin Ferro loves to play ball, fair and square, and everywhere. He tweets @ashwinferro
Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper
