New Delhi, Nov 8 (UNI) India will host the 2023 FIH Men's Hockey World Cup from January 13 to 29, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced on Friday.
The decision was taken by the Executive Board of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in the last annual meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on Friday.
On the other hand, Spain and the Netherlands were selected to co-host the 2022 FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup, scheduled to be held from July 1 to 22.
The FIH further said that the venues of the both the men's and women's World Cups will be announced by the host nations at a later date.
Hockey India President Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad expressed his delight at the announcement by FIH and said, 'We are all very delighted to have won the bid to host the 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup. When we had made the bid, we wanted to give our country another reason to celebrate 75 years of independence adding to that the fact that our last win was registered in 1975.'
'After having hosted the 14th edition of the Men's Hockey World Cup in 2018 which was recognised as one of the best hockey events ever, we were confident that we can host another Men's Hockey World Cup. We have the opportunity to use last year's experience to organise an even better Men's Hockey World Cup in 2023,' he added.
India had hosted the 14th edition of Men's Hockey World Cup which was held at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha last year and had received accolades from around the world for their hospitality and state-of-the-art facilities as host nation.
It was a spectacle that led to Hockey India to bid for the prestigious tournament yet again, and become the first country ever to host four Men's Hockey World Cups, after having hosted the Men's Hockey World Cups in 1982 (Mumbai), 2010 (New Delhi) and 2018 (Bhubaneswar).
Belgium had won their first-ever Men’s World Cup title in the previous edition.
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