The Indian team went all the way to the final before losing to the Netherlands in the final of the 1973 edition.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu archives
Conceived jointly by India and Pakistan as the premier standalone competition for hockey outside of the Olympics and approved by the International Hockey Federation in 1969, it still took 13 long years and four editions of the event to be held in the Indian subcontinent for the first time.
While the first edition in 1971 was allotted to Pakistan before being moved to Spain due to political and security issues, India was supposed to host in 1975 before governance issues forced it to be moved to Malaysia. While the initial editions were held every two years, since 1982 the tournament has been held every four years, bisecting the Olympic cycle.
1971, Barcelona (Oct. 15-24)
Not hosting the event did not affect Pakistan’s performance. The reigning Olympic champion rode on some impressive performances from the likes of Islahuddin Siddique, penalty-corner specialist Tanvir Ahmed Dar — who was also the top-scorer of the tournament with eight goals — and Abdul Rashid to claim the inaugural edition, the only invitational one, defeating Spain 1-0 in the final to avenge its loss in the group stage.
India, bronze medallists in 1968 at Mexico, finished the group stage unbeaten with four wins in as many games before running into Pakistan in the semifinals, losing 1-2 to be out of the title race before a fighting 1-0 win against Kenya ensured the third spot. Pakistan thus became the first country to hold both the Olympic and World titles at the same time.
Top three: Pakistan, Spain, India
1973, Amstelveen (Aug. 24-Sep. 2)
The Netherlands became the first country to host and win the tournament, getting past India 4-2 in the final on penalty strokes after being tied 2-2 after full time and extra time, Ties Kruize scoring both goals for the host. The game used to be played for 70 minutes in two halves back then, with two halves of 15 minutes each as extra time before strokes were used as the tie-breaker.
India had remained undefeated through the group stage before running into Pakistan again. The reigning champion had finished on top of their group despite fielding a relatively inexperienced side — 11 of its players were serving bans for their misconduct after losing the 1972 Olympic final.
India managed to enter final against the host with a 1-0 win while the host had to endure a tie-breaker against Germany in the semifinals.
Top three: Netherlands, India, West Germany