India to send men and women’s teams in inaugural World Hockey5s

Hockey India (HI) will send men’s and women’s teams to the maiden World Hockey5s, on September 11 and 12 in Lausanne.

Five male and female teams each will compete at Place de la Navigation. While hosts Switzerland, England, Germany, India and Malaysia will participate in the men’s tournament, Switzerland, England, Germany, India and South Africa will take part in the women’s competition.

A relatively new format, Hockey5s is played with five per team. The ball is in play for approximately 90 per cent of the match, courtesy the rebound boards beyond the side and back lines. There are usually more goals in Hockey5s than in the traditional 11-a-side game since players can score from anywhere after crossing the attacking line. Matches are played on a smaller pitch, enabling the format to be organised at much smaller and unexpected venues with the crowd closer to action.

The format debuted at the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing. India returned with two silver medals (one each for men and women) from the next edition, in Buenos Aires 2018.

“Hockey5s is a great format to promote our sport and especially introduce it to sports fans not yet familiar with hockey,” Thierry Weil, CEO of FIH, hockey’s apex international body, said on Tuesday.

To promote hockey globally, the FIH Executive Board had decided in 2019 to create a Hockey5s World Cup with the inaugural edition planned in 2023 and in the near future, a Hockey5s World Tour.

FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2021 will be broadcast live on Watch.Hockey.

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