NEW DELHI, (DNA) – The Indian Hockey team is set to begin its journey in the 2018 Hockey World Cup as they take on South Africa in Pool C, in what would be the second match of the opening day of the competition.

Hockey India might have 8 Olympic Gold medals to their name but they have won the World Cup just once in their history.

The only triumph came at the 1975 edition when they defeated arch-rivals Pakistan 2-1 in the final. Against 15th-ranked South Africa, the Indian team would look to make their superior ranking (5th) count and kickstart the tournament with a win.

India are placed in the Pool C of the tournament. The winner of the Pool will go directly into the quarter-finals, while the second and third-placed teams would head into the crossover round, where there will be inter-pool matches.

While the second-placed team in Pool A will face the third-placed team in Pool B, the second-placed team in Pool B will lock horns with third-placed team in Pool A. In the end, we’ll have 4 winners from the Crossover stage of the tournament who will head into the quarter-finals.

India’s Schedule for the Hockey World Cup 2018:

November 28, 2018: India vs South Africa (19:00 PM IST)

December 2, 2018: India vs Belgium (19:00 PM IST)

December 8, 2918: India vs Canada (19:00 PM IST)

Hockey World Cup Schedule, quarter-finals onwards:

The four quarter-final matches will be conducted on December 12 and 13, while the semi-finals will be held on November 15. The third-place match and the final will take place on December 16.

India’s Squad for the 2018 Hockey World Cup:

PR Sreejesh, Krishna Bahadur Pathak, Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Varun Kumar, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Manpreet Singh (C), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Sumit, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Simranjeet Singh

Telecast and Live Streaming of Hockey World Cup 2018: 

Star Sports Network has the broadcasting rights for the Hockey World Cup 2018. The live streaming of the event will be available on Hotstar as well as live TV platforms like Jio TV and Airtel TV.