Salima Tete and Harmanpreet Singh (Image credit: Hockey India)

The upcoming FIH Men’s and Women’s World Cups in Belgium and the Netherlands will be played under a new three-stage format, making the league phase even more crucial as points earned in the opening round will be carried forward to the next stage. That is, the result achieved against a team played in the league counts for the final ranking in the new pool in the next phase.Explaining the new format, India chief coach Craig Fulton said, “It’s an interesting one. It gives everyone that opportunity to eye a quarterfinal berth. It’s massively important that we amass however many points we can in the league.”

HERE’S HOW THE NEW FORMAT WORKS:

FIRST ROUNDThe 16 teams will be divided equally into four pools — A, B, C and D. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the second round, while the remaining eight teams will enter the classification phase, divided into pools G and H.SECOND ROUNDThe top two teams from Pools A and D will form Pool E, while Pool F will comprise the top two teams from Pools B and C. The points earned in the first round against teams that also qualify for this stage will be carried forward.Each team will play two matches in this phase and will not face the team it has already played in the opening round.THIRD ROUNDThe top two teams from Pools E and F will advance to the semifinals. The third-placed teams will play for fifth and sixth positions, while the fourth-placed teams will contest the seventh-eighth place classification match.INDIA’S LEAGUE SCHEDULE (IST)

INDIA’S PREVIOUS PERFORMANCES:Men: 1971: 3rd, 1973: Runners-up, 1975: Winner, 1978: 6th, 1982: 5th, 1986: 12th, 1990: 10th, 1994: 5th, 1998: 9th, 2002: 10th, 2006: 11th, 2010: 8th, 2014: 9th, 2018: 6th, 2023: 9th.Women: 1974: 4th, 1978: 7th, 1983: 11th, 1998: 12th, 2006: 11th, 2010: 9th, 2018: 8th, 2022: 9th.