Australia captain Aran Zalewski believes it will be one of the most open men's hockey World Cups in recent times and his team will have to test themselves against the best to defend the title here.
"World hockey is close at the moment and very competitive and any team can win and obviously India at home with home crowd will be very tough to beat," said Zalewski after arriving here with his team for the World Cup.
"We have a chance to test ourselves against the best in the world as we haven't tested ourselves since Rio (2016 Olympics) so we want to do very well here," he added.
It is a sort of home coming for Australia, who had claimed the Champions Trophy in 2014 and the Hockey World League Final in 2017 here.
Australia has Ireland, England and China in Pool B and head coach Colin Batch said it isn't going to be an easy task for his side even in Pool Stages.
"We are the Champions but a long way from winning this tournament. We have a lot of work to do. We saw that in the Women's World Cup, a lot of surprises sprung up so we have to perform at our best against Ireland in the first game and then see what happens from there," said Batch, a World Cup winner himself in 1986.
"We haven't seen Ireland for a while but they have played some good hockey. England we have played them a few times, they are a good side and China are a bit unknown so we just take one game a time."
Australia open their title-defence campaign against Ireland on November 30.
Belgium, Netherlands arrive
Seeking to win the title, world number three Belgium and the fourth ranked Netherlands arrived in the city for the upcoming World Cup.
Clubbed in Pool D, also called the 'Pool of Death' with heavyweights Germany, Pakistan and Malaysia, the Dutch are looking for tough matches right from the start.
"We need to make sure we keep our heads down and play our best every match," asserted Max Caldas, head coach of the Netherlands.
Speaking of the team's excitement to be back in the city, experienced player Billy Baker said, "We have won almost every match we have played this season and we have also had really tough preparations for the tournament.
"We are aware of the Bhubaneswar crowds who come in large numbers and we want to enjoy playing in front of them and also use their support to feel motivated."
The Netherlands begin their campaign on December 1.
World No 3 Belgium too arrived few minutes after the Netherlands players touched down.
"We are arriving after three months of solid preparations. We pretty much trained full time and the preparations were heavy. The guys are really fit and sharp. We are excited to get going," said Belgium skipper Thomas Briels.
Belgium are grouped with hosts India, Canada and South Africa in Pool B and begin their campaign against Canada on November 28.
England and New Zealand too arrived late Friday night and were already on the pitch on Saturday to get a feel of the newly-laid turf at the Kalinga Stadium.