India a big threat and real contender for 2026 Hockey WC: Hendrickx

Star Belgium drag-flicker Alexander Hendrickx said reigning Olympic bronze medallist India will be a threat and a strong contender for a podium finish at next year’s FIH Men’s World Cup to be held from August 14 to 30.

Eight-time Olympic champions and back-to-back bronze medallists at Tokyo and Paris, India have finished on the World Cup podium only twice, ending runners-up in 1973 and winning their lone title in 1975 in Malaysia, 51 years ago.

 “India always has a good side, the results from the last tournaments show it. They are always a threat. I think there are 5 top nations who are always contending for the World Cup and the medals and I think India is one of those 5,” Hendrickx, a member of Belgium’s Tokyo Olympics gold medal-winning side, told PTI in a virtual interview.

Belgium, who won the World Cup in 2018 and then finished second-best in the last edition, are currently going through a transition phase but Hendrickx is hopeful that the Red Lions can finish on the podium in the tournament to be jointly hosted by Netherlands and Belgium next year.

“For the World Cup our ambition is to at least win a medal, its our home World Cup and I think it has to be our ambition to win it to celebrate with Belgium fans. But that’s far away, we still have a lot of time before that.

“We are always in transition but normally after Olympics, 3 people went out and 3 new guys came in. I think during that period altogether 8 people stopped so it was a big gap. So it took a bit longer than we wanted but the young guys are transitioning really well. After the Azlan Shah Cup I think the transition should be over,” said Hendrickx, who was top-scorer in Tokyo Games with 14 goals.

Belgium won the Sultan of Azlan Shah Cup this year, defeating a second-string India 1-0 and Hendrickx is taking heart from that effort. “We have a good team. In the national team we have some young guys coming in. Our Euros (European Championships) last summer wasn’t that great. For 8 guys it was their first tournament, so we had to find our way but after Malaysia (Azlan Shah) I feel hopeful.

“We had a really good tournament, some young guys are really developing fast and we scored some great goals,” he said.  Hendrickx, who will be turning out for Vedanta Kalinga Lancers in the upcoming Hockey India League, is hopeful of a podium finish this season after plugging holes in their defensive line.

Kalinga Lancers finished sixth out of eight teams in the last edition.  “Looking forward to the tournament. We have a really good side with the new players we brought in. We lacked first runner on the corner defence in last year, where we conceded too easily, average two goals per game we played. But that has been sorted now. If we do the same scoring wise because we scored a lot of goals and defend better from PCs, we will have a good result this year,” he said.

“I didn’t set any personal goals yet, for me the first is team goal which is to reach the play-offs. This year we have to reach the play-offs. Personally, I would have to be better than last year. I want to help the team by scoring goals and through assists.”  Kalinga Lancers will open their campaign against Ranchi Royals in Chennai on January 4.