India men's national field hockey team

[8] India went on to win their third straight title at the 1936 Olympics, this time captained by legendary player Dhyan Chand himself.

[8] The Indian hockey team that won three successive Olympic titles is often regarded as one of the greatest ever to play the sport.

[12] India went on to win two further gold medals in 1952 and 1956, preserving its record as the most successful and dominant team at that time in the Olympics.

In 1952 Olympics quarter-finals India won against Austria 4–0, Great Britain 3–1 in semi-final and defeated Netherlands 6–1 in the final.

[13] The match is famous for the five-goal magical performance of Balbir Singh Sr., which is an Olympic record that still stands today.

In the final India faced Pakistan and won the match 1–0, which was the beginning of the biggest rivalry in field hockey.

India returned strongly at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics by registering wins against Hong Kong, Belgium, Netherlands, Malaysia and Canada and drawing with Spain and Germany.

[18] At the 1972 Olympics also the results were same as India started brightly by defeating Great Britain, Australia, Kenya, New Zealand and Mexico but drew with Netherlands and Poland.

[19] India won the bronze medal at the 1971 World Cup by virtue of a win over Kenya in the third-place playoffs.

[20] At the 1973 World Cup India defeated Pakistan in semi-finals, but lost to Netherlands in the final in penalty shoot-out after the match ended in a 2–2 draw.

[21] But at the 1975 World Cup India defeated Malaysia in the semi-final before beating arch-rivals Pakistan in the final to claim their first title.

[22] In the 1976 Olympics astro-turf hockey pitch was introduced, India struggled to maintain their dominance like they did on grass fields and for the first time ever returned home empty handed.

The 1980 Olympics was held in Moscow, India started their campaign with an 18–0 win over Tanzania followed by a 2–2 draw with both Poland and Spain respectively.

[23] After the 1980 Olympics success India's performance declined and the following decades resulted in a lot of ups and downs for the national team.

[31] India started the new millennium by winning the inaugural Hockey Champions Challenge by defeating South Africa in the final.

But the team regained momentum after winning the 2009 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and also became the joint winners in the 2010 edition.

The team reached the finals of 2016 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy but lost to Australia in penalty shootout.

The 2018 Asian Games proved little disappointing as India was the defending champions as well as the favorites to win but was surprised by Malaysia in semi-final.

[49] The team returned strongly by winning 2018 Asian Champions Trophy and collecting a gold medal at the 2018–19 Men's Hockey Series.

[53] Indian hockey team won the bronze medal for the second consecutive time at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris by defeating Spain.

India vs Berlin XI in 1936.
Indian team celebrating their 1–0 win over Pakistan in the 1973 World Cup semi-finals.