All You Want to Know About Men’s Commonwealth Games Hockey

The inaugural Men’s Commonwealth Games Hockey competition was held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in September 1998

Dhanraj Pillay captained India at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games
Indian men’s hockey team have played in 29 matches across five editions of Commonwealth Games – they have won 18, lost 9, and drew 2

Malaysia surprised many by reaching the final of the 1998 Men’s Commonwealth Games Hockey event, where they lost to Australia 0-4

South African forward Greg Nicol was the top goal-scorer of the 1998 Commonwealth Games Hockey competition – slamming 14 goals from 5 games

Australia have won all six editions of the Men’s Commonwealth Games Hockey competition (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 & 2018)

Ignace Tirkey captained India at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games
Indian men’s hockey team lost to Australia by identical 2-5 margins in the pool phase of the 1998 and 2010 Commonwealth Games
Indian women’s hockey team have played in 35 matches across six editions of Commonwealth Games – they have won 19, lost 12, and drew 4

Sohail Abbas (Pakistan) scored 2 hat-tricks vs England and South Africa at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games

New Zealand inflicted Pakistan’s heaviest defeat in the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, clobbering them 7-1 in the semifinals

A total of 13 countries have participated in all six editions of Commonwealth Games men’s hockey (Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Kenya, South Africa, England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago)

Hayden Shaw (New Zealand) was the top goal-scorer of the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games – 9 Goals
Malaysia shocked India 1-0 in the semifinal of the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commmonwealth Games – their captain Mirnawan Nawawi struck the “sudden death” goal early in the seventh minute of extra after both teams were locked goalless in regulation time

South Africa is the only team to beat Australia in Men’s Commonwealth Games Hockey competition – they beat the Kookaburras 3-2 in the 1998 edition at Kuala Lumpur

India have finished runners-up in Commonwealth Games men’s hockey on most occasions – twice (2010 & 2014)

Two nations – Kenya and Barbados have featured in Commonwealth Games men’s hockey only once (1998 & 2002)

Hayden Shaw (New Zealand) scored in every match of the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games

As many 3 players scored hat-tricks against Barbados in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games – Craig Victory (4), Michael McCann (4), and Jamie Dwyer (3)

Men Hockey Players with most Commonwealth Games appearances – 4 Mark Knowles (Australia), 4 Rob Short (Canada), 4 Eddie Ockenden (Australia), & 4 Hugo Inglis (New Zealand)

Hayden Shaw (New Zealand) struck two hat-tricks vs Barbados & South Africa at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games – 9 Goals

Indian Men Hockey Players with most Commonwealth Games appearances: 3 Sardar Singh, 3 PR Sreejesh, 3 Akashdeep Singh and 3 Manpreet Singh

England have won bronze in Commonwealth Games men’s hockey on most occasions – thrice (1998, 2014 & 2018)

Australia Beating Barbados 20-1 in the biggest win in Commonwealth Games men’s hockey
At the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, India men were unlucky to miss the semifinal despite winning their last pool game 2-0 against South Africa. India were tied with Malaysia on points tally (seven each) as well as the goal difference (eight each). But the South East Asians, despite their concluding league loss to Pakistan (5-6) pipped the Indians by virtue of scoring more number of goals (Malayasia netted 16, while the Indians managed only 14)

Luke Doerner (Australia) scored hat-tricks against Scotland & Malaysia at the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games

Trinidad & Tobago have finished last in Commonwealth Games men’s hockey on three occasions (2006, 2010 & 2014)

Team conceding most goals in a single edition of Commonwealth Games men’s hockey – Barbados – 50 Goals in the 2002 edition at Manchester

Jamie Dwyer slammed two hat-tricks vs Barbados & New Zealand in the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games
At the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games semifinal, Indian men were trailing England 1-3 in the second half but rebounded to make it 3-3 and stretch the contest into extra-time and subsequently where Indian goalkeeper Bharat Chetri pulled off a crucial save off Glen Kirkham, even as all five Indians – Sarvanjit, Vikram Pillay, Sandeep Singh, Arjun Halappa and Shivendra Singh scored and India 5-4 in shootout

Most Individual Goals in any match in Commonwealth Games men’s hockey – 5 Goals – Sohail Abbas (Pakistan) vs South Afrcia in the 2002 edition at Manchester

Australia Beating India 8-0 at New Delhi in 2010 is the biggest victory margin in any final in the Commonwealth Games men’s hockey

Chris Ciriello (Australia) & Ashley Jackson (England) were joint top goal-scorers at the 20014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games
When India trounced arch-rivals Pakistan 7-4 at the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games, Sandeep Singh did the star turn – he not only scored two PC goals in the first 10 minutes of play but also part in India scoring the next three goals

Sandeep Singh has scored the most goals for India in Commonwealth Games men’s hockey – 11 Goals

Pakistan finished 7th in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games despite losing a single game in the tournament – they had played out 4 draws

Jamie Dwyer scored a hat-trick in Australia’s 5-2 win over New Zealand in the final of the 2002 edition at Manchester

Team scoring most goals cross six editions of Commonwealth Games men’s hockey – Australia 180 Goals

Samuel Ward (England) was the top goal-scorer at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

Australia have faced more different final opponents in the first four Men’s Commonwealth Games Hockey competitions – Malaysia (1998), New Zealand (2002), Pakistan (2006), and India (2010)

India have faced Pakistan thrice in Commonwealth Games men’s hockey – won once (7-4 in 2010, lost once 1-4 (2006) & drew once 2-2 (2018)

Team conceding most goals across six editions of Commonwealth Games men’s hockey – Trinidad & Tobago (109 Goals)

Malaysia and India did not play at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games because rules allowed one nation from one continent and Pakistan represented Asia continent