India, Aug. 13 -- As the Netherlands and Belgium prepare to host the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup, India arrives with a men's team that finished ninth in 2023 and a women's team that ranked ninth in 2022. For the nation of Dhyan Chand and eight men's Olympic champions between 1928 and 1980, the most decorated side in the history of the Olympics, neither result is anything to celebrate on paper. Yet both mark a country climbing back from decades in the wilderness; for Indian hockey has enjoyed three distinct eras of success, failure, and hope.

India's men were there from the very beginning. At the inaugural World Cup in Barcelona in 1971, they went one step further, reaching the final against hosts Netherlands, leading twice through a Surjit...