{
  "id": 546670,
  "title": "League points will stick around: Why opening games are crucial at Hockey World Cup",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/11/league-points-will-stick-around-why-opening-games-are-crucial-at",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-11T05:28:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Times of India",
    "slug": "times-of-india",
    "url": "https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/hockey/top-stories/league-points-will-stick-around-why-opening-games-are-crucial-at-hockey-world-cup/articleshow/133142914.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "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.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}