Waterless pitches at upcoming events including the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics were among the key pledges made by Tayyab Ikram of Pakistan after he became FIH President in November last year, succeeding India's Narinder Batra.

FIH sport and development director Jon Wyatt has affirmed the governing body's aim to use waterless pitches at all Olympic Games from after next year.

"The 2024 Paris Olympic Games hockey tournament will be the last played on watered turf," he told the Times of India.

"Good progress has been made by a number of hockey turf manufacturers in the development of new turfs that do not require any watering, but aim to maintain the performance levels required for elite hockey."

Hockey matches at Paris 2024 are due to be held at a renovated Yves du Manoir Stadium, which served as the main venue the last time the French capital held the Olympic Games in 1924.

Water-based pitches proved a concern in the build-up to the FIH Presidential election last year, with defeated Belgian candidate Marc Coudron criticising the thousands of litres required for each match and the environmental impact this has.

The use of a water-free synthetic surface at an FIH Hockey5s event in the Swiss city Lausanne last June has been cited as an example that could be followed for future tournaments.

Wyatt said that "additional developments are being made and further trials will take place during 2023" based on the experience in Lausanne.

He admitted a transition period would be required for the sport to move away from pitches that need water.

"There will be a number of years where both watered and non-watered pitches will be used for elite hockey," Wyatt told the Times of India.

"We fully understand the investment made to install new turfs and therefore there will be no requirement to replace watered turfs immediately.

"When the lifetime of a turf naturally comes to an end and it is due to be replaced, then we expect a non-watered turf to be installed."

Waterless pitches are planned at next year's inaugural Hockey5s World Cups in Muscat, and the 2026 Hockey World Cups in the 11-a-side format in Belgium and The Netherlands.

Water is required for the pitches at the ongoing Men's Hockey World Cup in Odisha.

The FIH claims that pitches at Tokyo 2020 used 40 per cent less water compared to Rio 2016.