India is in the last leg of preparations to host the 14th edition of Men’s Hockey World Cup which is slated to begin from November 28 at the Kalinga international stadium in Bhubaneswar. The hosts are placed in pool C and will begin their campaign against South Africa.

Ahead of the world tournament opener, South African captain Tim Drummond spoke about the Indian challenge they are going to face and stated that it’s the kind of challenge any team awaits.

“It will be a privilege to play India in the first match and experience the crowd. I have heard it is going to be very loud with all the cheering,” Drummond said.

“Though it's not my first time in India, many of my teammates are travelling here for the first time and they are very excited to be playing in Bhubaneswar, which has great support for hockey,” the South African captain added.

Drummond is confident that they will try their best to improve from their 10th place finish during the last edition.

“South Africa's best performance in the past was finishing 10th and we will certainly be looking at improving that. Our aim is to give our best and make our country proud. We played four test matches against France before arriving here so we have had some good match practice ahead of the tournament,” he added.

The teams have started arriving and Argentina, one of the formidable sides are already in the city.

Argentina's drag-flick sensation Gonzalo Peillat said, “It will be a great tournament, playing in Bhubaneswar again in front of a crazy crowd. The entire team is looking forward to it and are very excited to be back.”

The Olympic champions have a new chief coach in German Mariano Orozco, who replaced Carlos Retegui in early 2018 and is a former defender for Argentina having played the Olympic Games in 2000 and 2004.

“I think we have a good experience and have played quite a few tournaments in the lead up to the World Cup under new coach Orozco. We have been performing well under him,” said a confident Peillat.

Here are the teams:

Pool A: Argentina, Spain, France, New Zealand;

Pool B: Ireland, China, England, and Australia;

Pool C: India, South Africa, Canada, Belgium;

Group D: Pakistan, Netherlands, Germany, Malaysia.

(With inputs from PTI)