Men's Hockey World Cup kicks off in Bhubaneshwar today

Bhubaneswar: In the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup, a battle royal is in the offing as the hosts and crowd favourite India to clash with Spain at the newly constructed Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela Friday evening. 

Both India and Spain have played in every edition of the World Cup in tandem with Germany and the Netherlands since the tournament’s inception at Barcelona in 1971. In their six previous World Cup clashes India



have won twice against Redsticks, while the Spanish side has won thrice, the last match in the 2014 edition at The Hague ended in a 1-1 draw. 

The opening match will be played between Argentina and South Africa at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneshwar. The players of all 16 teams are ready to showcase their talent, enthusiastic hockey lovers are also equally eager to cheer the players up.