Sri Lanka was once considered a contender in the 1970s but failed to perform well at the international level for about four decades. The field hockey team from Sri Lanka participated in the
Hockey World League for the first time in their history when they took part in the
2016–17 Men's FIH Hockey World League Round 1 and they performed really well by defeating every team that they had played in pool matches. They also qualified for the finals of the Hockey World League Round 1 in the Asian category. In the finals Sri Lanka played a draw in full-time against
China, with 3 goals from each team. China went on to win the final by scoring 4-2 in the penalty shootout and Sri Lanka secured the silver medal at the end of Round 1 competition. After emerging as runners-up the Sri Lankan team qualified to play in the
2016-17 Men's FIH Hockey World League Round 2. However, Sri Lanka did not win a single game and crashed out from the
FIH Hockey World League. In Round 2, Sri Lanka secured 7th place by beating
Fiji in the 7th place playoff. In 2016, Sri Lanka made history by qualifying to play in the finals of the Asian Hockey Federation Cup for the first time. In the finals, Sri Lanka lost 0-3 to Bangladesh and secured the silver medal. Sri Lanka also qualified to compete at the
2018 Asian Games in the men's team event after a third-place finish in the
Asian Games qualification round. They placed 8th in the Asian Games
hockey tournament. ==Tournament history==