New Delhi:
The Pakistan Hockey team on Thursday announced that it will be travelling to India to play the Hockey World Cup 2018.
The Hockey World Cup, which will be conducted in Bhubaneshwar, will commence in November and continue till December this year.
Earlier, speculations about the Pakistan Hockey team not visiting India because of hostile political relations were high. With this news, all the speculations have been put to an end. India last hosted the Hockey World Cup in 2010, where the Pakistan team played, too.
Pakistan had failed to qualify for the 2014 Hockey World Cup which was hosted by the Netherlands. So, their return to the 2018 Hockey World Cup is a positive sign for both Pakistan and Asian hockey.
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Pakistan had qualified for the tournament by finishing seventh at the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in London, along with getting the benefit of the EuroHockey Championships.
The 2018 World Cup, which will be played in Bhubaneshwar, will start on November 28 to December 16, and India will be looking forward to deliver a spectacular performance in their homeland. India has till now won only one gold medal in 1975.
Pakistan, on the other hand, has won the title record for four times, in 1971, 1978, 1982, and 1994. Two other teams, Netherlands and Australia, have won the gold medal three times each.
