India, Aug. 14 -- India's hockey World Cup history is a mix of one shining triumph and decades of near-misses that still matter. The men's team has won the trophy just once, the women's side has never gone past a quarterfinal, yet both sides have produced moments that shaped the sport back home. Here are six of them.

Sometimes individual brilliance survives a team's collapse. At the 1986 World Cup at London's Willesden Sports Centre, India finished last among the participating teams - 12th place, their worst-ever World Cup showing. And yet Mohammad Shahid, India's captain and one of the finest dribblers the game has seen, was named Player of the Tournament. Shahid wove past defenders with a control that made the ball look glued to his st...