The hockey has started to mix in the air of Odisha as the upcoming edition of Hockey world cup starts in the state capital Bhubaneswar from 28th November. The newly proposed format will give an equal chance to every participating team to clinch the shining trophy and take the laurels home.
The world cup will feature four pool with four participating team in each pool. The pool topper will directly qualify for the quarter finals while the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams will play cross over matches and the winner will qualify for the quarter-finals. The group comprises of two high ranked teams and two lower ranked teams. If a lower ranked team is at 3rd position, it will have a good chance of creating an upset and beating the 2nd ranked team of another group to qualify for the quarter finals.
The cross-over matches will be as follows
Match 1: 2nd Pool A vs 3rd Pool B
Match 2: 2nd Pool B vs 3rd Pool A
Match 3: 2nd Pool C vs 3rd Pool D
Match 4: 2nd Pool D vs 3rd Pool C
The quarter finals line-up will look as follows
Match 5: 1st Pool A vs Winner Match 2
Match 6: 1st Pool D vs Winner Match 3
Match 7: 1st Pool B vs Winner Match 1
Match 8: 1st Pool C vs Winner Match 4
Here’s some facts that you need to know about 2018 Hockey world cup
1- Around 1150 players and officials are expected to take part in the event
2- The host venue- Kalinga stadium has a seating capacity of 15,000 people and is allready one of the best hockey stadium of the world with maximum seating capacity.
3- There will be free wi-fi provided at the venue
4- The venue has allready hosted FIH tournaments like Champions trophy in 2014 and Hockey world league finals in 2017.
5- The practise and the playing pitch have been newly designed taking the consideration of Olympic-standard pitch in keeping with the regulations of the FIH.
6- Sixteen teams from across six continents will fight it out for the top honours- India(host), Pakistan, Germany, Malaysia, England, Canada, South Africa, France, Ireland, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Netherlands, Argentina, China
