India hockey teams get a mixed draw
MUMBAI: The Indian men’s hockey team has an easy route to 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a twomatch qualifier against Russia, the lowest ranked team in the fray. In the draw conducted at the FIH headquarters in Lausanne on Monday, world No. 5 India avoided a clash against arch-rivals Pakistan and drew Russia, ranked 22 in the world.
The women’s team, however, drew a tricky opponent in the USA. Though USA is ranked 13th compared to India’s 9th in the world rankings, they could still prove a handful for Sjoerd Marijne’s squad.
Both Indian teams will play at home at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from November 1-2. The qualifiers consist of two back-to-back matches and the teams aggregating the most goals will clinch a berth to 2020 Tokyo Olympics, joining the four continental champions and hosts Japan to make up the field of 12 teams for the July 25-August 7 competition to be held at the Oi Hockey Stadium in Tokyo.
For the draw, the India men’s team was placed in Pot 1 along with European giants the Netherlands and Germany and were to face a team from Pot 4, which included Pakistan, Austria and Russia, which came into the draw after Egypt withdrew from the contest at the last moment
That made real a possibility of India running into Pakistan, a match that would have been a difficult proposition for Graham Reid’s team despite their recent domination against Pakistan, having been unbeaten in 11 successive matches.
Draw (Men): Oct 25-26: Spain v France, Valencia; Oct 26-27: Netherlands v Pakistan, Amsterdam; Oct 26-27: Canada v Ireland, West Vancouver, Nov 1-2: India v Russia, Bhubaneswar; Nov 2-3: New Zealand v Korea, Stratford; Nov 2-3: Germany v Austria, Mönchengladbach; Nov 2-3: Great Britain v Malaysia, London Women: Oct 25-26: Australia v Russia, Perth; Oct 25-26: China v Belgium, Changzhou; Oct 25-26: Spain v Korea, Valencia; Nov 1-2: India v USA, Bhubaneswar; Nov 2-3: Germany v Italy, Mönchengladbach; Nov 2-3: Great Britain v Chile, London; Nov 2-3: Ireland v Canada, Dublin