Rio 2016 Olympics: Know your sport — Hockey

History:

Hockey made its first appearance at the 1908 London Games, and became a firm fixture on the Olympic programme as from the Antwerp Games 1920. Women hockey made their entrance in 1980 at the Moscow Games. Since the 2000 Games in Sydney, men have competed in a 12-team tournament and women in a 10-team one. Indian hockey team has dominated the sport, in its 100 years of Olympic existence. With six consecutive titles between 1928 and 1956, Team India was unbeaten in 30 consecutive matches, and scored 197 goals, giving away only eight

Rules

Two teams of 11 players use sticks to control, dribble, pass and shoot the ball-the side that scores the most goals wins. Matches are divided into four 15-minute quarters.The goalkeeper is the only person allowed to touch the ball with their body. He or she uses protective pads on the head, chest, legs. Goals can only be scored from within the designated semicircle, marked with a radius of 14.63m from the middle of the base line. A hockey goal is 2.14m high and 3.66m wide.

Unintentional fouls committed by a team within the shooting circle are penalized with a short corner, in which the ball is passed to the edge of the area from a position marked on the base line and must exit and re-enter the area for a resulting goal to be valid.

Categories: Hockey ( Men/Women)

Top Medalists: 

Men events:  India- 8G,1S,2B; Great Britain- 3G,2S,4B; Netherland- 2G,4S,3B;

Women’s events: Netherlands-3G,1S,3B; Argentina-2S,2B; Australia-3G

Rio Hockey Teams:

In Rio, 12 countries will battle for the men’s title and 10 for the women’s gold medals. Matches are played in seven stadiums across the country. Teams are as follow: Argentina, Canada, India, New Zealand, Australia, China, Ireland, Korea, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Spain, Brazil, England, Netherlands, USA