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Jan. 19, 2020 — A surprising start to the FIH Pro League season
While the United States won’t be making its 2020 season debut in the FIH Pro League for several days, there has already been a pair of eye-opening results on the men’s side this weekend.
India, which for years has been seen as a faded world powerhouse in men’s field hockey, came up with a pair of tremendous wins at home against the Netherlands at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar. The opener was a 5-2 regulation win, with the second a shootout win after a 3-3 draw after regulation.
India showed itself to be made of stern stuff; Holland had taken a 3-1 at the interval of the second game today, and had even a 10-minute power play because of a yellow card to captain Manpreet Singh. But India scored on a pair of penalty corners in the last nine minutes to send the game to the penalty shootout, which India won 3-1.
This result, coupled with the women’s team’s Olympic qualification, is an indicator of the degree to which the nation is applying the necessary resources to make its national teams more than just competitive.
Which could make for an interesting Olympics.
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