Two days later, a different Indian side turned up. One that looked deflated, out of ideas, and tired. India faced England and could not score. 0-0.

January 19. Wales. A minnow side. India led 2-0 and looked comfortable. Then Wales scored twice in the 43rd and 45th minutes to level it at 2-2. India eventually won 4-2, with Akashdeep scoring in the 46th minute and Harmanpreet in the 60th. But the warning signs were there.

January 22. The crossover. New Zealand, a team that had won only one of their three group games. India led 3-1 with nine minutes left. Lalit had scored in the 18th minute. Sukhjeet in the 25th. Varun in the 41st. The quarterfinals felt inevitable.

Then Lane scored in the 29th minute. Russell equalled the 44th. Findlay in the 50th. 3-3. Penalties. India were knocked out.

The team that had beaten Spain on day one could not hold a two-goal lead against a side that barely qualified for the crossover round. Nine days. Four matches. The sharpness that was there on January 13 was gone by January 22.

While Indian fans have been calling this pressure or the inability to hold their nerves, there is another aspect that we fail to grasp. Peaking at the right time. And understanding it might be the most important thing Craig Fulton does between now and August 15.

What Peaking Actually Means

Peaking is not something a coach talks a team into. It is something the body goes through. Tudor Bompa, one of the world’s leading sports scientists and author of the coaching manual published by World Rowing’s FISA development programme, defines it precisely. Peaking is a temporary state of training produced when physical and psychological elements are maximised and when technical and tactical preparation are optimal. It is not something that happens by accident. It is planned, sequenced, and timed.

In plain terms: there is a window when a team is at its absolute best. The job of a coach is to make sure that window opens at the right tournament, not three months before it.

The key word in Bompa’s definition is temporary. An athlete or a team cannot sustain peak performance indefinitely. The body does not work that way. What Bompa calls the overcompensation cycle explains why. Hard training breaks the body down. Recovery allows it to rebuild, and crucially, to rebuild higher than before. That rebuilt state is the peak. But if competition demands keep coming before recovery is complete, the body never reaches that higher state. It stays flat, or starts to decline. The team looks the same from the outside. Inside, they have already given their best.

Read More: India’s Big Call: Chase World Cup Glory or Secure Olympic Qualification?

What the Research Shows

James Hillier, former National Coach for England Athletics and now Athletics Director at the Reliance Foundation, puts it directly. “Peaking starts on the first day of training, not a week before competition,” he told Scroll.in. “I have always been a big advocate of less is more in the period before a major competition. A lot of people make the mistake of doing too much before the big competitions. It is a very common mistake.”

Bompa goes further with a specific number that is directly relevant to Indian hockey right now. Studies of elite athletes show that seven to ten competitions are enough to reach a high state of readiness for a major tournament. More than that and the risk of declining performance before the main event increases significantly. The longer the phase of weekly competitions, Bompa writes, the lower the probability of duplicating high results.

Eight Pro League matches. June 14 to June 28. That number is not a coincidence. It sits exactly within the optimal range.

Read More: The Federation Is Not the Dressing Room, Part 2: What Hockey India Own Documents Reveal

FIH Hockey World Cup 2018: When India Got It Wrong

In June 2018, India finished second at the Champions Trophy in Breda, Netherlands. It was one of their best results in years against top international opposition. The momentum felt real. The confidence was genuine.

What followed was a compressed, brutal schedule. Asian Games in Jakarta in August. World Cup in Bhubaneswar in November. Three major tournaments in six months, each treated as a must-win, each demanding peak output from the same group of players.

At the FIH Hockey World Cup, India topped their group above Belgium, who went on to win the entire tournament. India and Belgium finished level on points. That is not a team that has lost its way tactically. That is a team performing at a very high level in the group stage. Then they lost to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and went home.

Apply Bompa’s framework and the picture becomes clear. India had been in high-intensity competitive mode since June. By November, the overcompensation cycle had no room to work. The body was not rebuilding between tournaments. It was just coping. The peak had come and gone months before the World Cup arrived.

FIH Hockey World Cup 2023: The Same Mistake, Different Year

The 2023 FIH Hockey World Cup was on home soil. India had the venues, the crowd, the preparation time. What they also had was an eleven-match block in the two months directly before it.

In late October and early November, India hosted six Pro League matches in Bhubaneswar against New Zealand and Spain. Competitive matches, home crowd, high intensity. Then in late November and early December, India toured Australia for five test matches in Adelaide. They lost four of the five. But look at the scorelines. 5-4, 7-4, 3-4, 5-1, 5-4. These were not comfortable defeats. These were physically brutal, high-scoring, end-to-end matches against the world’s best side. The kind of matches that take something out of you even when you win.

By the time the World Cup arrived in January 2023, India had been in high-intensity competition mode since October. Eleven matches in two months. Bompa’s warning about the declining probability of high results after a long competitive phase was not abstract. India had lived it. You saw it in how they played against England on January 15. You saw it again against New Zealand on January 22.

Tokyo Olympics 2021: When Circumstance Forced the Right Approach

Tokyo 2021 was different for a reason nobody would have chosen. Covid eliminated the competitive calendar entirely. India could not tour. They could not play international matches. They trained in a bio-bubble in Bengaluru, separated from the world, preparing without the competitive rhythm that coaches normally rely on.

And then they beat Great Britain 3-1 in the Olympic quarterfinals. The result which gave hope to India for the first time in decades.

The bio-bubble preparation forced exactly what Bompa’s science recommends. A long build-up without the accumulated fatigue of a heavy competition schedule. The body had time to reach overcompensation. The team arrived at Tokyo not spent from months of back-to-back tournaments but genuinely fresh, with the physical and psychological capacity to produce something special when it mattered most.

It was not planned that way. But it worked that way. And that distinction matters enormously for what comes next.

Paris Olympics 2024: When Fulton Got It Right

Before the Paris Olympics, India’s preparation results were poor by any measure. They lost all five test matches in Australia. At the Four Nations in South Africa, results were mixed. At the Five Nations in late 2023, they did poorly. Every conventional reading of that form said India were not ready.

But Craig Fulton was not chasing results in those tournaments. He was managing load, rotating combinations, testing players under competitive pressure without demanding peak output. The intent was never to win in Australia or South Africa. The intent was to arrive at Paris at the right point on the curve.

In Paris, India beat Australia 3-2 in group stages. A match that still gives goosebumps. India ended up winning bronze at the Paris Olympics, beating Spain 2-1 in the bronze medal match.

That sequence, poor preparation results followed by a major tournament performance, is not a coincidence. It is what deliberate peaking looks like from the outside when you do not understand what the coach is actually doing. Fulton understood the difference between preparation form and tournament readiness. Paris proved it.

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FIH Hockey World Cup 2026: What Fulton May Be Looking To Do

India’s Pro League form across the last two seasons looks alarming on paper. Winless across multiple matches, sitting eighth in the current standings. The instinct is to treat this as a crisis.

The current Pro League winless run needs to be read through the same lens as Paris 2024. Is this genuine decline or deliberate preparation management? The honest answer is that from the outside, it is impossible to know with certainty. What we can say is that the pattern fits. A coach who managed the Paris preparation correctly is capable of doing the same for the World Cup.

The eight Pro League matches in Rotterdam and London, June 14 to June 28, are not results to be won. They are the competition block that Bompa’s research says is exactly the right number to reach peak readiness. The question is whether Fulton uses them to find answers about midfield combinations and penalty corner structures, rather than chasing points in a standings table where India cannot realistically compete for the title.

Sometime after the Paris Olympics, I had a conversation with K Arumugam, one of India’s most respected hockey writers. We were discussing the 2026 World Cup and what Fulton’s preparation might look like. We both came back to the same point. Before Paris, the form was worrying. It did not look like a team ready to win a bronze medal. Then they did. Now, looking at the Pro League results, the pattern looks familiar. Is Fulton doing the same thing again? Is this the Paris preparation repeating itself? That is the question neither of us could answer with certainty. But we both knew it was worth asking.

Read More: Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 Schedule: Full Fixtures, Groups and India Match Dates

What August 15 Will Tell Us

Peaking at the right moment is not a mystery. It is a decision. A coaching decision made months before the tournament, through every training session, every competition selected, every player rotation, every time a coach chooses to rest rather than push.

India have got this wrong before. FIH Hockey World Cup 2018 showed what happens when you peak too early. 2023 showed what happens when the competitive load runs too long. Tokyo and Paris showed what happens when the approach is right, whether by design or by circumstance.

Fulton has eight matches in June and 48 days after them before the World Cup opens. How he uses both will tell us everything about whether India arrive in Amstelveen at the top of their curve or past it.

The tournament does not care about Pro League standings or preparation results. It only cares about what a team produces on the day that matters. For India, that day is August 15.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are those of the author. References: Tudor Bompa, Peaking for the Major Competition, FISA Coaching Development Programme. Ernest Maglischo, The Taper Period, FISA Coaching Development Programme. James Hillier interview, Scroll.in.

<p>The post Peaking at the Right Moment: The One Thing That Will Define India at the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup first appeared on Give Me Hockey.</p>

The FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 Women’s tournament runs from August 15 to August 29 across two venues in Belgium and the Netherlands. Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen hosts Pool A and Pool D matches. Belfius Hockey Arena in Wavre hosts Pool B and Pool C.

For India, the 1974 inaugural edition remains their best finish, fourth place. In 2022 they finished ninth. Coach Sjoerd Marijne, who guided them to the Olympic semifinal in Tokyo, is back for a second stint. Getting out of the group will be the first real test.

FIH Hockey World Cup Tournament Format

Sixteen teams are divided into four pools of four. Every team plays the other three in their pool once. The top two from each pool advance to the second round. The bottom two enter classification pools to determine final rankings from 9th to 16th place.

In the second round, the eight qualified teams split into Pool E and Pool F. Top two from Pool A and Pool D form Pool E. Top two from Pool B and Pool C form Pool F. Each team plays two new matches against opponents from a different original pool. Top two from each second round pool advance to the semifinals, then knockout from there.

The Groups

Pool A: Netherlands, Australia, Chile, Japan; playing in Amstelveen

Pool B: Argentina, Germany, USA, Scotland; playing in Wavre

Pool C: Belgium, Spain, New Zealand, Ireland; playing in Wavre

Pool D: China, England, India, South Africa; playing in Amstelveen

Read More: Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup Schedule

FIH Hockey World Cup Group Stage Schedule

All times in IST. India’s matches are highlighted in green.

Second Round: Pool E and Pool F

Top two from Pool A and Pool D form Pool E, playing in Amstelveen. While,top two from Pool B and Pool C form Pool F, playing in Wavre. Top two from each pool advance to the semifinals.

Classification Matches: Positions 9 to 16

Third and fourth placed teams from each group compete here to determine final rankings from 9th to 16th place.

Semifinals and Final

India’s Chances In FIH Hockey World Cup

Pool D is the toughest draw India could have got. China are the reigning Asian champions and favourites to top the group. England beat India 2-0 in the World Cup qualifier final in Hyderabad just weeks ago. South Africa are the one team India should easily beat. August 16 against China and August 20 against England are the two matches that will define India’s campaign. Getting to the second round will be a significant achievement for Sjoerd Marijne’s India team. Stay tuned to GiveMeHockey for our in-depth analysis.

Where to Watch

All matches will be live streamed on Watch.Hockey globally. Fans can purchase a World Cup pass at watch.hockey. India broadcast details have not been confirmed yet. This article will be updated once an official Indian broadcaster is announced.

Note: All dates and times are in Indian Standard Time (IST). Second round and knockout fixtures show pool positions as teams are yet to be determined. This article will be updated as the tournament progresses.

Hockey does not always make the front page. If you want coverage that goes beyond the scoreline, subscribe on Substack. Every piece lands directly in your mailbox.

<p>The post Full Schedule, India’s Fixtures, and What Is at Stake: FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup 2026 first appeared on Give Me Hockey.</p>

Coach Craig Fulton has been clear. One squad, both tournaments, no discussion. The women’s team coach Sjoerd Marijne has the same view. But the Ministry is sticking to their guns about sending two teams.

But before getting into that, here is the basic calendar reality. The World Cup runs from August 15 to 30 in Belgium and the Netherlands. The Asian Games follows from September 19 to October 4 in Japan. That is a 20-day gap at best. Now, with that context, let us get to the real question.

The Ministry has a point. But only up to a point.

The Ministry’s concern is not coming from nowhere. The government has been serious about multi-sport events for a while now. India is hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games and the government has placed a bid to host the 2036 Olympics. Performing well at the Asian Games fits into that larger picture.

And if you want to understand why the Ministry is almost paranoid about Olympic qualification, go back to 2008. India failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time ever. It shook Indian hockey completely. Hockey India was born out of that mess.

So yes, there is a reason behind what they are doing. But their logic falls apart the moment you look at who India is actually playing at the Asian Games.

The competition at the Asian Games

India is ranked 8th in the world. The next Asian team in FIH rankings is Pakistan, 13th. Malaysia are placed 15th while Japan are 16th. Korea have dropped all the way to 21st. This is the competition India is supposedly so worried about that they need to send their best players.

India’s performance against Asian teams has been great over the last decade. Asian Games gold in 2014, bronze in 2018, gold again at the Hangzhou Asian Games, which was originally scheduled for 2022 but played in 2023 due to Covid, where they beat Singapore 16-1 and Pakistan 10-2 in the group stage and Japan 5-1 in the final. Asian Champions Trophy wins in 2011, 2016, 2018, 2023 and 2024. Asia Cup wins in 2017 and 2025.

Yes, 2018 was a problem. Malaysia knocked India out in the semi-final and India had to take the bronze. But here is what people forget about 2018. India went there with a full-strength squad as defending champions and still lost to Malaysia. So if the argument is that the Asian Games is risky without the A team, then 2018 actually tells you the opposite. A full-strength India can also slip up. At that point it is about performance and confidence, not who you are playing against.

Pakistan, Japan and Malaysia are all going to the World Cup and the Asian Games. Nobody is talking about any of these federations splitting their squads. Givemehockey.com has reached out to the Malaysian, Japanese and Pakistani hockey federations on this specific question and is waiting for their response. But based on what is publicly available, none of them are planning two separate teams. So India sends a B team to the World Cup while everyone else turns up with their best players. How does that make sense?

And even if India were to miss direct Olympic qualification through the Asian Games, the road to the Olympics does not end. You can qualify through the Pro League. You have Olympic qualifying tournaments available. The Indian women’s team showed not long ago that qualification through alternate routes is very much possible. Missing the Asian Games gold is not the end of the world. But sending a weakened team to the World Cup and getting embarrassed? That has a different kind of cost.

Does India actually have a B team? No.

This is the real question. And the honest answer is no.

Let us go position by position.

Goalkeeping is the one area of genuine depth. Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Suraj Karkera, Mohith and Pawan have all been in and around the squad. India has options here and this is the one position where the two-team argument holds up.

On defence, India does have a reasonable number of players. Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Sanjay, Sumit, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Varun Kumar, Yashdeep Siwach and Amandeep Lakra have all been part of squads in recent times. The numbers are there. But the quality of defending, even in the Pro League, has not been consistently convincing. Sending a second-string defence to a World Cup is a serious risk.

For penalty corners, the options beyond Harmanpreet Singh are Jugraj Singh, Amit Rohidas, Sanjay, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Varun Kumar and Amandeep Lakra, who had a decent Hockey India League season. But none of them have come close to Harmanpreet’s level. Every time an alternative drag flicker has been tried, the results have not been convincing enough to challenge Harmanpreet’s place. So if he goes to the Asian Games, who is leading the PC attack at the World Cup? That is not a hypothetical risk. That is a guaranteed weakness going into the biggest tournament in hockey.

Read More: Abhishek, who shoots before other think

In midfield, India has Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Raj Kumar Pal, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Rajinder Singh, Vishnu Kant Singh and Mohammed Raheel Mouseen all available. On paper, that looks like depth. But here is the problem. Even with Hardik Singh in the squad, India’s midfield has been quite ordinary of late. The Pro League performances have been a concern. If you rest Hardik and ask these players to run the show against England, Pakistan or Australia at a World Cup, that is a completely different ask. These are good players. They are not Hardik Singh.

For forwards, Mandeep Singh is the most experienced option beyond the first-choice pair. Abhishek and Sukhjeet are the key goal threats and everyone knows it. Dilpreet Singh, Araijeet Singh Hundal, Aditya Arjun Lalage, Angad Bir Singh and others have been part of squads and played supporting roles. But they have not led the Indian attack. Araijeet Singh Hundal has scored three international goals. Uttam Singh has two. These are players still finding their footing at senior level, not players you build a World Cup campaign around.

So if you rest Abhishek and Sukhjeet for the Asian Games and ask this group to carry the World Cup attack, India will struggle. And that does not just affect the result. It puts Craig Fulton’s credibility directly on the line. More than that, it tells the world exactly how seriously India takes the World Cup. Not very, apparently.

FIH needs India. And they know it.

Here is something that does not get talked about enough. FIH depends heavily on India when it comes to revenue. They have bent over backwards in the past to make sure India is part of big tournaments. Sending a B team to the World Cup hurts FIH commercially at a time when they are not exactly flush. FIH will not be happy about this and their unhappiness tends to show up in ways that matter to Indian hockey eventually.

The real issue: does the Ministry trust their own coach?

This is the question nobody is asking out loud. The Ministry is paying Craig Fulton’s salary. SAI is funding this entire programme. And when Fulton says one squad, I will manage it, the Ministry overrules him. That is not a scheduling debate. That is the Ministry saying we do not trust you.

You are either backing your coach or you are not. There is no middle ground here.

Fulton said something back in early 2025 that is worth going back to. He said B game won’t cut it at a World Cup. Coach was not talking about tactics. He was talking about the level of commitment and preparation that a World Cup demands from every single player. He saw this calendar coming and he was already warning people.

And while we are on this topic, let us talk about what winning 16-0 against Uzbekistan or 16-1 against Singapore actually does for Indian hockey. The answer is nothing. It does not test your defence. It does not sharpen your penalty corners under pressure. Neither it tells you whether Jugraj Singh can hold his nerve when India needs a goal in a knockout match. All it does is make a good headline. If India genuinely cannot back themselves to beat a struggling Malaysia or Japan with even a slightly rotated squad, that is a much bigger problem than the calendar. That problem is called confidence. And it lives inside the team, not in the opposition.

What Fulton should actually do

Keep the core the same. Harmanpreet, Hardik, Abhishek, Sukhjeet, Manpreet, Mandeep, Jarmanpreet. These players stay in both squads. Change the players around them based on fitness and workload. The rest of the squad already know each other from months of training camps. The wavelength between them will not be an issue.

Also, acting like 20 days between tournaments is some kind of impossible ask is absurd. The Hockey India League just ran for nearly a month. Players were competing back-to-back throughout. These are professional athletes. They train for such scenarios. Twenty days is a rest, not a crisis.

There is also a scenario the Ministry has not thought through. What if India goes out of the World Cup in the group stage or the quarters? Then the same players have even more time to rest before the Asian Games. The exhaustion scenario only happens if India goes deep. And if India goes deep into the World Cup, that is the best possible thing that could happen for Indian hockey right now, Asian Games or not.

One big squad, 22 to 24 players. Core stays the same. Rotate around them. Go for both tournaments. That is not complicated. It is just good planning.

The bigger picture

India last won the World Cup in 1975. Every fan wants to see India perform at the World Cup, not treat it as a warm-up for a continental tournament they will almost certainly win anyway. Sending a B team to the World Cup is not a strategy. It is a message. It says India is choosing safety over ambition.

And quietly, this whole debate has pointed at something Indian hockey has been avoiding for a while. Despite two seasons of the Hockey India League and serious investment in the programme, India still does not have match-winners beyond the core group that everyone can name off the top of their head. The Under-19 team has done well. But the jump from Under-19 to senior level has always been where India loses players. That conversation needs to happen. But that is another article.

For now, the answer is simple. Trust the coach. Keep the squad together. Send one team to both tournaments.

Fulton knows what he is doing. Let him do it.

—

Note: Givemehockey.com has reached out to the Malaysian, Japanese and Pakistani hockey federations regarding their squad plans for this tournament window. This piece will be updated when responses are received.

<p>The post India’s Big Call: Chase World Cup Glory or Secure Olympic Qualification? first appeared on Give Me Hockey.</p>

Hockey World Cup always dishes out great games for the fans. 1998 World Cup finals saw Teun De Nooijer securing his legendary status by scoring against Spain in extra time. Chris Ciriello scored an incredible hat-trick in 2014 that led Australia rout the Dutch in the finals. Who can forget, Belgium’s run in the last World Cup and the nail-biting final?

The World Cup has always brought out the best in players from around the world. Over the years, we have seen some great performances by the likes of Jamie Dwyer, Arthur Van Doren and Shahbaz Ahmed. This World Cup also has some exciting players, who would be hoping to join the legendary group of players. Here are 5 players to look out for in the 2023 Hockey World Cup.

Dayaan Cassiem

Dayaan Cassiem is the hottest property in the world of hockey right now. The 24-year-old forward from Cape Town has been making waves in international hockey for the last couple of years. Cassiem was impressive in the FIH Nations Cup that got him best player of the tournament award. He has been in top form for South Africa since Tokyo Olympics. He was the top scorer for South Africa in Tokyo Olympics as well as 2022 Commonwealth Games. His ability to dodge and run past defenders is what makes him so dangerous for the opposition. The sort of form and confidence he carries makes him one of the top players to look out for.

Gonzalo Peillat

Gonzalo Peillat will be entering the World Cup with a point to prove. The top goal scorer of the 2014 Hockey World Cup was dropped from Argentina’s side after differences between the management. Touted to break Sohail Abbas’s record, Peillat moved to Germany and missed three years of international hockey due to FIH rules. But, he is back once again in the World Cup, this time representing Germany. In his 12 caps for Germany, he has already scored six goals. An Olympics Gold medal winner in 2016, Peillat would be looking to add a World Cup medal in his trophy cabinet.

Blake Govers

Another big game player, Blake Govers would be hoping to follow his brother Kieran’s footsteps by winning the World Cup. A strong forward, Blake scored 89 goals in 103 appearances for Australia. Blake Govers is also known for his drag-flicking abilities. In the recent India-Australia test series, Govers was the top goal scorer for the Australian team despite playing only three games. A strong forward who loves tearing opposition defences, Govers will also play a role of penalty corner expert. Govers has been on the big tournament podium before, he won silver in Tokyo Olympics and finished third in 2018 Hockey World Cup. With just winner medals left for him to win, fans can expect him to go all out and win it.

Arthur Van Doren

There is no other player who perfectly fits the bracket of an impact player than Belgium’s Arthur van Doren. Named best player of the tournament in the 2018 Hockey World Cup, Van Doren will be aiming for his second World Cup medal. A master in zonal defending, he loves cutting passes to opposition forwards and then assisting with counterattacks to help Belgium strikers. An in-form Van Doren is intimidating on the field and a menace to opposition attackers. At 28, he is in his prime. While few hockey experts have counted Belgium out as favourites, Van Doren would be keen to prove them wrong and win another trophy for Belgium’s golden generation.

Harmanpreet Singh

Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh is one player from whom we can always expect a great performance. In the 2023 Hockey World Cup too, the same will be expected of him. He was the top goal scorer of India in the calendar year 2022 and he’s expected to carry his fine to the year 2023. With the absence of experienced defenders and penalty corner experts in the Indian team, Harmanpreet will have a lot on his plate.

However, FIH player of the year 2020-21 and 2022-22 thrives under pressure. Harman’s quick thinking and lethal drag flicks would be key to India’s progress in the World Cup. Harmanpreet was the top goal scorer for India in Tokyo Olympics, and he would once again be aiming to top the goal-scoring chart to help India win a medal in the World Cup.

Which player do you think will shine in the World Cup? Have your say in the comments section below.

<p>The post Hockey World Cup 2023: Five Players To Look Out For first appeared on Give Me Hockey.</p>