The Zimbabwe men's national field hockey team is the team that represents Zimbabwe in the sport of field hockey. Field hockey has the second biggest player base in the country after football. Currently, Zimbabwe has four pitches, two in Bulawayo – one water base and one sand filled – and another sand filled at the Arundel School and water base at St John's College in the capital city of Harare. Bulawayo has approximately 1,000 hockey players and Harare 8,000. The 5,000-capacity Khumalo Hockey Stadium in Bulawayo is their home stadium. Field hockey club Skies Hockey Club also use the venue for home games. They are currently ranked 61st in International hockey ranking. While the country had a tradition in the sport, they struggled in recent times largely due to their inability to participate in international competitions organized by the African Hockey Federation (AfHF) and the International Hockey Federation (FIH), until the Khumalo Hockey Stadium was refurbished and played host to the 2011 African Olympic Qualifier. The governing body for field hockey is Hockey Association of Zimbabwe. It was formed in 1925. Medals table History Early Years Back when the country was Rhodesia, the national hockey team qualified for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo after beating the United Arab Republic. Team captain Lloyd Koch was Rhodesia's flag bearer, and the team won one game against New Zealand. Koch scored two goals in the tournament. 1980s – Rise in Africa after Independence Zimbabwe got independence in 1980. Soon after independence, various attempts were made to establish sports in the country. Women's team won the inaugural Gold medal in 1980 Olympics. Men's team picked the graph and went on to perform decent in the International games. They won silver and bronze medals in 1987 and 1991 All-Africa Games respectively. The team also bagged bronze medal in Hockey African Cup for Nations in 2000 by defeating Ghana. They managed to hold a strong position in the African continent for almost two decades. Decline and re-establishment Zimbabwe saw a drought in sports after the year 2000. They couldn't manage to maintain their spot in the African region and fall down to sixth in the continental ranking. To revive the game of hockey in the country, 2011 African Olympic Qualifier were organised in Zimbabwe. But the problem was the stadium was not ready by that time. Zimbabwe asked help from South Africa. On 8 July 2011