BHUBANESWAR:The 14th edition of the Hockey World Cup is all set to kick off at the Kalinga Stadium on Wednesday, with Belgium taking on Canada in the opening match of the tournament. A total of 16 countries are participating in the tournament and they have been placed in four pools consisting of four teams each.
While the pool toppers will earn direct entry into the quarterfinals, the second and third placedteams will have to earn their place via play-offs.
Hosts India are placed in Group C alongside South Africa, Belgium and Canada. Defending champions Australia are in Group B, along with England, Ireland and China. While Argentina, New Zealand, Spain and France form Group A, Malaysia, Netherlands, Germany, Pakistan make the last group, i.e, Group D.
Fifth-ranked India, which will be led by Manpreet Singh, will begin their campaign against 15th placed South Africa later on Wednesday.
The eight-time Olympic champions - who had last won the World Cup trophy way back in 1975 with a 2-1 win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the final - will seek to end their 43-year-long hunt for the prestigious title.
The tournament will also give a chance to coach Harendra Singh to prove his critics wrong after the home side's disappointing run in the 2018 Asian Games, where they failed to defend their title after a semi-final defeat at the hands of Malaysia.
The Men in Blue last faced South Africa during the 2014 edition of the Commonwealth Games, where the former side secured a 5-2 win. The two sides have not met each other for the last four years, especially because of funding issues faced by South Africa.
Meanwhile, top-ranked Australia will carry the weight of expectations of being the defending champions and they are among favourites to clinch the title heading into the tournament. Led by coach Colin Batch, Australia will surely rely on their veterans Eddie Ockenden and Aran Zalewski during the prestigious tournament.
Ranked number two in the world, Argentina are the current World Cup runner-ups as well as the Olympic champions. Despite being a strong performer on the field, it has not been a smooth sailing for them in the last few months with their coach Carlos Retegui stepping down and being replaced by German Orozco. However, they will look to shrug off the same and make a podium finish in the tournament.
Despite being four-time Olympic Champions, 10-time Champions Trophy winners and two-time World Cup winners, sixth-ranked Germany failed to showcase their magic in the past few years. The team's last major victory came in the 2014 edition of the Champions Trophy, while they made a lowly sixth place finish in the last World Cup. But the likes of Florian Fuchs, Martin Haner, Christopher Ruhr and Tobias Hauke are expected to put up a good show for Germany.
The third-ranked Belgium men's hockey team will surely be the side to watch, having finished as the silver-medallists in the 2016 Rio Olympics. With players like Cedric Charlier, Tom Boon, Loick Luypaert and Boccard making up the squad, the Belgians are expected to pose a big challenge to India in Pool C.
While the Netherlands are heading into the tournament as the fourth-ranked team in the world, England are coming up with a young side where 13 out of their 18 players have never featured in the World Cup.
England, who finished at the fourth spot in the last two editions of the tournament, will look to turn things and make better finish this time around.
Here is the list of all the 16 teams who will battle it out in the tournament:
1) INDIA (ranked 5th)
Coach: Harendra Singh
Squad: PR Sreejesh, Krishna Bahadur Pathak, Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Varun Kumar, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Manpreet Singh (Captain), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (Vice-Captain), Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Sumit, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Simranjeet Singh
2) ARGENTINA (ranked 2nd)
Coach: German Orozco
Players: Juan Manuel Vivaldi, Tomás Santiago, Gonzalo Peillat, Pedro Ibarra, Juan Ignacio Gilardi, Ignacio Ortiz, Juan Martín López, Matías Rey, Lucas Rossi, Agustín Bugallo, Nicolás Cicileo, Tomás Bettaglio, Matías Paredes, Agustin Mazzilli, Lucas Vila, Maico Casella, Lucas Martínez, Joaquín Menini
3) AUSTRALIA (ranked 1st)
Coach: Colin Batch
Players: Daniel Beale, Timothy Brand, Andrew Charter, Tom Craig, Matthew Dawson, Blake Govers, Jake Harvie, Jeremy Hayward, Tim Howard, Tyler Lovell, Trent Mitton, Eddie Ockenden, Flynn Ogilvie, Matthew Swann, Corey Weyer, Jake Whetton, Dylan Wotherspoon, Aran Zalewski
4) BELGIUM (ranked 3rd)
Coach: Shane McLeod
Players: Vincent Vanasch, Loic Van Doren, Arthur De Sloover, Arthur Van Doren, Loïck Luypaert, Alexander Hendrickx, Gauthier Boccard, Emmanuel Stockbroekx, Simon Gougnard, John-John Dohmen, Victor Wegnez, Felix Denayer, Sébastien Dockier, Cédric Charlier, Tom Boon, Thomas Briels, Florent van Aubel, Nicolas De Kerpel
5) CANADA (ranked 11th)
Coach: Paul Bundy
Players: Balraj Panesar, Brandon Pereira, Gordon Johnston, Scott Tupper, Keegan Pereira, Matthew Sarmento, Iain Smythe, James Kirkpatrick, Oliver Scholfield, Antoni Kindler, David Carter, Mark Pearson, Sukhi Panesarbc, Gabe Ho-Garcia, John Smythe, Richard Hildreth, Brenden Bissett, Jamie Wallace
6) CHINA (ranked 17th)
Coach: Cui Yingbiao
Players: Guo Xiaoping, Ao Zhiwei, Guan Quyang, Ao Suozhu, E Wenhui, Ao Yang, Meng Dihao, Su Jun, Meng Nan, Su Wenlin, Su Lixing, Du Chen, Du Talake, Guo Zixiang, E Wenlong, Wang Caiyu, Ao Weibao, Guo Jin
7) ENGLAND (ranked 7th)
Coach: Danny Kerry
Players: George Pinner, Harry Gibson, Adam Dixon, Liam Sanford, Mark Gleghorne, Jack Waller, Michael Hoare, Luke Taylor, Harry Martin, David Ames, Ian Sloan, Barry Middleton, Zach Wallace, James Gall, Phil Roper, David Condon, Will Calnan, Sam Ward
8) FRANCE (ranked 20th)
Coach: Jerome Delmee
Players: Artur Thieffry, Corentin Saunier, Pieter van Straaten, Tom Genestet, Hugo Genestet, Blaise Rogeau, Victor Lockwood, Charles Masson, Nicolas Dumont, Gaspard Baumgarten, Francois Goyet, Cristoforo Peters-Duetz, Jean-Baptiste Forgues, Etienne Tynevez, Victor Charlet, Aristide Coisne, Maximillien Branicki, Timothee Clement
9) GERMANY (ranked 6th)
Coach: Stefan Kermas
Players: Mark Appel, Tobias Walter, Florian Fuchs, Benedikt Fürk, Mats Grambusch, Tom Grambusch, Johannes Grobe, Martin Häner, Tobias Hauke, Timm Herzbruch, Dieter Linnekogel, Marco Miltkau, Mathias Müller, Dan Nguyen Luong, Christopher Rühr, Ferdinand Weinke, Niklas Wellen, Lukas Windfeder
10) IRELAND (ranked 10th)
Coach: Alexander Cox
Players: David Harte, David Fitzgerald, Jonathan Bell, Paul Gleghorne, Luke Madeley, Conor Harte, Stuart Loughrey, Matthew Bell, Lee Cole, Shane O'Donoghue, Michael Robson, Kirk Shimmins, Sean Murray, Chris Cargo, Daragh Walsh, Matthew Nelson, Mitch Darling, Eugene Magee, Alan Sothern, Jeremy Duncan, (two travelling reserves yet to be named)
11) MALAYSIA (ranked 12th)
Coach: Roelant Oltmans
Players: Kumar Subramaniam, Hairi Rahman, Sumantri Norsyafiq, Ramadan Rosli, Marhan Jalil, Fitri Saari, Joel van Huizen, Faizal Saari, Syed Cholan, Sukri Mutalib, Firhan Ashari, Nabil Noor, Razie Rahim, Faiz Jali, Azri Hassan, Hasan Azuan, Tajuddin Tengku, Nik Rozemi
12) NETHERLANDS (ranked 4th)
Coach: Max Caldas
Players: Seve van Ass, Sander Baart, Billy Bakker, Lars Balk, Pirmin Blaak, Thierry Brinkman, Thijs van Dam, Jonas de Geus, Jeroen Hertzberger, Robbert Kemperman, Mirco Pruyser, Glenn Schuurman, Sam van der Ven, Valentin Verga, Bob de Voogd, Mink van der Weerden, Sander de Wijn, Floris Wortelboer
13) NEW ZEALAND (ranked 9th)
Coach: Darren Smith
Players: Cory Bennett, Marcus Child, George Enersen, Hugo Inglis, Stephen Jenness, Richard Joyce, Dane Lett, Shea McAleese, George Muir, Dominic Newman, Jared Panchia, Arun Panchia, Hayden Phillips, Nick Ross, Kane Russell, Aidan Sarikaya, Blair Tarrant, Nic Woods
14) PAKISTAN (ranked 13th)
Coach: Tauqeer Dar
Players: Imran Butt, Mazhar Abbas, M Irfan Sr, Aleem Bilal, Mubashar Ali, M Tauseeq Arshad, Tasawwar Abbas, Rashid Mahmood, Ajaz Ahmed, Ammad Shakeel Butt, M Irfan Jr, M Rizwan Sr, Ali Shan, Faisal Qadir, Abubakr Mahmood, Umar Bhutta, M Atiq Arshad, Mohammad Zubair
15) SOUTH AFRICA (ranked 15th)
Coach: Mark Hopkins
Players: Tim Drummond, Dayaan Cassiem, Taylor Dart, Tyson Dlungwana, Jethro Eustice, Rhett Halkett, Tommy Hammond, Keenan Horne, Julian Hykes, Gowan Jones, Peabo Lembethe, Mo Mea, Bili Ntuli, Taine Paton, Richard Pautz, Rassie Pieterse, Austin Smith, Nic Spooner
16) SPAIN (ranked 8th)
Coach: Fred Soyez
Players: Alejandro de Frutos, Albert Beltrán, Álvaro Iglesias, Diego Arana, Enrique González de Castejón, Ignacio Rodriguez, Marc Sallés, Marc Boltó, Marc Serrahima, Mario Garin, Miquel Delàs, Pau Quemada, Pepe Romeu, Quico Cortés, Ricardo Santana, Sergi Enrique, Vicenç Ruiz, Xavier Lleonart
