Eyes firmly on Olympic ticket

national men’s hockey team have been drawn in Group B together with China, Brazil and Italy for the Hockey Series Finals in Bukit Jalil on April 26-May 4.

Group A will comprise Canada, Austria, Wales and another team which will be decided later.

As for the women’s team, they are in Group A with Ireland, Singapore and the Czech Republic in Dublin on June 8-16 while South Korea, Scotland, Ukraine and France make up Group B.

The men and women’s Series Finals doubles up as a qualifier for next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games.

Both teams must finish in the top-two bracket of their respective competitions to advance to the final qualifier in October and November this year.

National women’s coach K. Dharmaraj is planning to take his charges to Korea next month for a tour which will double up as a spying mission.

He foresees that his team will likely face Korea in the semi-finals in Dublin.

“Ireland are a class above in our group and we will likely battle for the second spot in Group A. I believe Ukraine will be third in Group B and we will play them in the cross-over for the semi-finals.

“Korea should top Group A,”

“And so, I hope we will get a positive response from the National Sports University of South Korea to accommodate us,” said Dharmaraj.