India vs. Ghana in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, photograph credit Reuters

he Commonwealth Games men's hockey competition was held from 29th July to 8th August at the University of Birmingham Hockey and Squash Centre. Midfielder Manpreet Singh, the captain of the men's hockey team, was the co-flagbearer of Team India along with P. V. Sindhu at the Games Opening Ceremony.

Malaysia decided against sending their men's and women's teams to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, opting to focus on the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games instead. Unfortunately for Malaysia, the Asian Games got postponed by a year, leaving them with no major tournament in 2022.

10 countries took part in the men's hockey competition, and were grouped into two pools as follows:

• Pool A: Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa
• Pool B: Canada, England, Ghana, India, Wales

Indian men were thrashed by Australia in the final and had to settle for silver in the Commonwealth Games hockey tournament. India's match results were as shown below:

Stage	Date	Result	Goal Scorers - India
Pool	July 31	India 11 - Ghana 0	Abhishek (2 min), PC Harmanpreet Singh (10, 35, 53), all PCs Shamsher Singh (14 min) Akashdeep Singh (20 min) Jugraj Singh (22 min-PS, 43 min-PC) Neelakantha Sharma (38 min) Varun Kumar (39 min), PC Mandeep Singh (48 min)
	Aug 1	India 4 - England 4	Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (2 min), PC Mandeep Singh (13, 22 min) Harmanpreet Singh (46 min), PC
	Aug 3	India 8 - Canada 0	Harmanpreet Singh (7, 54 min), both PCs Amit Rohidas (10 min) Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (20 min), PC Gurjant Singh (27 min) Akashdeep Singh (38, 60 min) Mandeep Singh (57 min)
	Aug 4	India 4 - Wales 1	Harmanpreet Singh (19-PC, 20-PC, 40-PS) Gurjant Singh (49 min)
Semis	Aug 6	India 3 - South Africa 2	Abhishek (20 min) Mandeep Singh (28 min) Jugraj Singh (58 min), PC
Final	Aug 8	Australia 7 - India 0

This was the seventh consecutive gold for Australia in the seven Commonwealth Games men's hockey competitions held so far.

The final placings were: 1 - Australia, 2 - India, 3 - England, 4 - South Africa, 5 - New Zealand, 6 - Wales, 7 - Pakistan, 8 - Canada, 9- Scotland, 10 - Ghana

The 18-member Indian men's team for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games was as follows:

Forwards: Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Shamsher Singh

Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (captain), Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Akashdeep Singh, Neelakantha Sharma

Defenders: Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet Singh (vice-captain), Surender Kumar, Varun Kumar, Jugraj Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh

Goalkeepers: Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak

Officials: Chief Coach - Graham Reid; Assistant Coach - Gregg Clark; Manager - Shivendra Singh

Goalkeeper Savita Punia thwarts Olivia Shannon in the shoot-out to win India the bronze, photo Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

he Commonwealth Games women's hockey competition was held from 29th July to 7th August at the University of Birmingham Hockey and Squash Centre. The Indian women were looking to break their 16-year medal drought in the Games - they last won a medal in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

10 countries took part in the women's hockey competition, and were grouped into two pools as follows:

• Pool A Canada, England, Ghana, India, Wales
• Pool B: Australia, Kenya, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa

Indian women won the bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games hockey tournament, with match results as shown below:

Stage	Date	Result	Goal Scorers - India
Pool	July 29	India 5 - Ghana 0	Gurjeet Kaur (3m-PC, 39m-PS) Neha Goyal (28 min) Sangeeta Kumari (36 min) Salima Tete (56 min)
	July 30	India 3 - Wales 1	Vandana Katariya (26, 48 min), both PCs Gurjeet Kaur (28 min), PC
	Aug 2	England 3 - India 1	Vandana Katariya (60 min), PC
	Aug 3	India 3 - Canada 2	Salima Teta (3 min), PC Navneet Kaur (22 min) Lalremsiami (51 min), PC
Semis	Aug 5	Australia 1 - India 1 (2-0 SO)	Vandana Katariya (49 min)
3rd vs. 4th	Aug 7	India 1 - New Zealand 1 (2-1)	Salima Tete (29 min)

England women won their first ever Commonwealth Games hockey gold. The final placings were: 1 - England, 2 - Australia, 3 - India, 4 - New Zealand, 5 - Canada, 6 - Scotland, 7 - South Africa, 8 - Wales, 9- Kenya, 10 - Ghana

The 18-member Indian women's team for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games was as follows:

Forwards: Vandana Katariya, Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur, Sharmila Devi, Sangeeta Kumari

Midfielders: Nisha, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Monika Malik, Neha Goyal, Jyoti, Sonika, Salima Tete

Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka (vice-captain), Gurjit Kaur, Nikki Pradhan, Udita

Goalkeepers: Savita Punia (captain), Rajani Etimarupu

Officials: Chief Coach - Janneke Schopman; Assistant Coach - Patrick Tshutshani; Manager - Ankitha Billava Suresh

India win the tiebreaker against Canada in the Women's World Cup

he Women's World Cup, co-hosted by Spain and Netherlands, was held from July 1-17, 2022 at the Estadi Olímpic de Terrassa in Terrassa (ESP) and at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen (NED).

The 16 participating teams were grouped into 4 pools as follows:

• Pool A Chile, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands
• Pool B: China, England, India, New Zealand
• Pool C: Argentina, Canada, South Korea, Spain
• Pool D: Australia, Belgium, Japan, South Africa

The top teams from each group qualified directly for the quarter-finals, while second and third-placed teams in each pool played crossover matches with teams from other groups for the remaining spots in the quarter-finals.

India won only 1 match in the entire tournament, and converted just 5 out of 46 penalty corners, to finish joint 9th in the World Cup. India's match results were as shown below:

Venue	Stage	Date	Result	Goal Scorers - India
Amstelveen	Pool	Jul 3	India 1 - England 1	Vandana Katariya (28 min), PC
		Jul 5	India 1 - China 1	Vandana Katariya (45 min), PC
		Jul 7	New Zealand 4 - India 3	Vandana Katariya (4 min) Lalremsiami (44 min) Gurjeet Kaur (59 min), PC
Terrassa	Crossover	Jul 10	Spain 1 - India 0
	9th - 16th	Jul 11	India 1 (3) - Canada 1 (2)	Salima Tete (58 min), PC
	9th - 12th	Jul 13	India 3 - Japan 1	Navneet (30, 45 min) Deep Grace Ekka (38 min), PC

Netherlands won the Women's World Cup for the 9th time. This was the second time Netherlands won a hattrick of World Cup titles. They won three consecutive World Cups in 1983 (Kuala Lumpur), 1986 (Amstelveen) and 1990 (Sydney) and now again in 2014 (The Hague), 2018 (London) and 2022 (Terrassa/Amstelveen)

The final standings were as follows: 1 - Netherlands, 2 - Argentina, 3 - Australia, 4 - Germany, 5 - New Zealand, 6 - Belgium, 7 - Spain, 8 - England, Joint 9 - India, China; Joint 11 - Japan, Ireland; Joint 13 - Chile, South Korea; Joint 15 - South Africa, Canada

The following were the tournament awards:

• Odisha Player of the Tournament: Maria Granatto (ARG)
• Junior Player of the Tournament: Charlotte Engelbert (BEL)
• Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Belen Succi (ARG)
• Hero Top Goalscorer of the Tournament: Agustina Gorzelany (ARG), 8 goals

The 18-member Indian women's team for the 2022 World Cup was as follows:

Forwards: Vandana Katariya, Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur, Sharmila Devi, Navjot Kaur

Midfielders: Nisha, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Monika Malik, Neha Goyal, Jyoti, Sonika, Salima Tete

Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka (vice-captain), Gurjit Kaur, Nikki Pradhan, Udita

Goalkeepers: Savita Punia (captain), Kharibam Bichu Devi

Officials: Chief Coach - Janneke Schopman; Manager - Tushar Khandkar

n July 18, temperamental Narinder Dhruv Batra resigned from his posts of President of FIH, President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In separate letters to the IOA, IOC and FIH, he cited "personal reasons" behind his decisions.

The "personal reasons" mentioned in Batra's resignation letter may have been related to the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) raid on his offices and houses in Delhi and Jammu just hours after his resignation. CBI officials claimed to have recovered incriminating documents and records relating to an alleged misappropriation of funds. As a result cases were registered against Mr Batra as well as former Hockey India officials "for committing illegalities for renovation and furnishing of the office of IOA president in 2018."

Batra ceased to be President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) back on May 25, when the Delhi High Court struck down the illegally created post of 'Life Member' in Hockey India, courtesy which he had contested and won the IOA elections in 2017. Being a Life Member had granted Batra voting rights and unlimited tenure, which was against the Sports Code of India for sports federations.

The court had also decided that a three-member Committee of Administrators should be placed to run Hockey India's day-to-day affairs. This judgement was in response to a petition filed by former hockey Olympian Aslam Sher Khan, who challenged the appointment of Batra as life member of Hockey India.

Batra's stay as IOA President was marked by public spats with secretary general Rajeev Mehta and the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF). Batra claimed in an interview in 2019 that the Commonwealth Games have no standard, and questioned "Why waste time by participating in the Commonwealth Games?"

During his tenure as FIH President, no Financial Reports for the past three years were made publicly available. With Batra as president, the FIH incurred a loss of $702,000 in 2019, double the deficit incurred in 2018, when also Batra was the FIH President.

During his stint with Hockey India, first as Secretary General and then as President, Indian women's hockey had its worst Olympic performance (12th and last at the 2016 Rio Olympics) and Indian men's hockey had its worst Olympic performance (12th and last at the 2012 London Olympics).

In a stopgap move, the FIH appointed Executive Board Member and President of the African Hockey Federation Seif Ahmed of Egypt as Acting President. The next Presidential elections will take place during the upcoming FIH Congress which is planned to be held virtually on November 4 and 5 this year.

Hockey team captain Manpreet Singh and badminton star P. V. Sindhu served as flagbearers of the Indian contingent

he Photograph of the Month for August 2022 is from the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, which was held at Alexander Stadium, the main athletics venue for the Games.

The Parade of Nations - where athletes represented their respective countries - formed part of the Opening Ceremony. The hosts of the previous Commonwealth Games, Australia, entered first in the Parade of Nations, followed by other countries of the Oceania region.

Countries from the regions of Africa, America, Asia, the Carribbean and Europe (in that order) entered in alphabetical order in each region. Host England was the last country to enter.

India was the third country among the Asian nations, after Bangladesh and Brunei. The Indian contingent, consisting of 215 athletes competing across 16 disciplines, was led by double Olympic medallist badminton star P. V. Sindhu and men's hockey captain Manpreet Singh.

"We went ahead with P. V. Sindhu because she is a two-time Olympic medallist," said IOA acting president, Anil Khanna. "Similarly, Manpreet Singh was chosen for ending India's 41-year-old Olympic hockey medal drought with a bronze at Tokyo 2020 last year."

Indian hockey captain Manpreet Singh features in the promotional campaign of the INOX group for the 2022 Commonwealth Games

he Indian Olympic Association (IOA), working with its marketing partner IOS Sports and Entertainment, has roped in the following sponsors and partners for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Category	Corporate	Sponsorship
Sponsor	Adani Sportsline	Principal Sponsor
	JSW Inspire	Principal Sponsor
	Amul	Associate Sponsor
	INOX Group	Associate Sponsor
Partner	Adidas	Performance Footwear Partner
	Borosil	Hydration Partner
	Herbalife Nutrition	Official Nutrition Partner
	Manyavar	Ceremonial Kitting Partner
	Sports for All (SFA)	Sports Ed Tech Partner

Some of these brands have a long term relationship with IOA, which kickstarted with the Tokyo Olympics last year, and which will continue through the end of the present Olympic cycle.

ony Sports Network is the official broadcaster of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games in India.

The matches are being telecast live on Sony Six HD, Sony TEN 1, Sony TEN 2, Sony TEN 3 (Hindi), Sony TEN 4 and on the Sony LIV OTT platform. Well known Indian athletes like Viren Rasquinha, Somdev Devvarman, Trupti Murgunde and Veda Krishnamurthy, along with sports journalists Ayaz Memon and Siddharth Pandey are part of the Games coverage.

Sony Sports Network launched a campaign "Birmingham mein Jeetega! Hindustan Hamara" to rally support for the Indian contingent. The film features Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister of Youth Affair and Sports Anurag Singh Thakur, along with several Indian athletes, with a rallying call to win medals at the Games.

Rajesh Kaul, Chief Revenue Officer, Distribution and Head – Sports Business, Sony Pictures Networks India, said, "After the huge success of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, it gives us immense pleasure to telecast the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. The broadcast rights for the Birmingham 2022 positions Sony Sports Network as the home for international multi-sporting events in India."

he August edition of records and statistics is on India's record in the Men's and Women's Commonwealth Games hockey competition.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES MEN'S HOCKEY

• Going into the 2022 tournament, the Australian men have won 6 gold medals in the 6 editions of the men's hockey tournament held so far
• England has never reached the final of the Commonweath Games men's hockey tournament

Year	Venue	Gold	Silver	Bronze	India
1998	Kuala Lumpur (MAS)	Australia	Malaysia	England	4th
2002	Manchester (ENG)	Australia	New Zealand	Pakistan	N/A
2006	Melbourne (AUS)	Australia	Pakistan	Malaysia	6th
2010	Delhi (IND)	Australia	India	New Zealand	2nd
2014	Glasgow (SCO)	Australia	India	England	2nd
2018	Gold Coast (AUS)	Australia	New Zealand	England	4th

COMMONWEALTH GAMES WOMEN'S HOCKEY

• Going into the 2022 tournament, the Australian women have won 4 gold medals in the 6 editions of the women's hockey tournament held so far
• England has never won the Commonweath Games women's hockey tournament
• Indian women's 2002 title triumph in Manchester was the inspiration for the movie Chak de! India

Year	Venue	Gold	Silver	Bronze	India
1998	Kuala Lumpur (MAS)	Australia	England	New Zealand	4th
2002	Manchester (ENG)	India	England	Australia	1st
2006	Melbourne (AUS)	Australia	India	England	2nd
2010	Delhi (IND)	Australia	New Zealand	England	5th
2014	Glasgow (SCO)	Australia	England	New Zealand	5th
2018	Gold Coast (AUS)	New Zealand	Australia	England	4th