Indian men’s hockey team to face Germany, Holland in Rio Olympics
Eight-time Olympic gold medallists India have been grouped alongside title holders and World No.3 Germany and World No.2 Netherlands in Group B at the men’s hockey event in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Besides Germany and Netherlands, the team led by Sardar Singh will face World No.6 Argentina, Ireland (12) and Canada (14). India are currently ranked No.7 in the latest International Hockey Federation (FIH) rankings.
India, however, would only need to beat lower-ranked Ireland and Canada to qualify for the last eight stage.
The men in blue are currently on a high after they claimed bronze at the recently concluded FIH Hockey World League Final in Raipur after defeating Netherlands in a shoot-out. Coached by Roelant Oltmans, India qualified for the Rio Olympics after claiming the gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
In the women’s competition, India, ranked 13th in the world, are grouped alongside Argentina (2), Australia (3), Great Britain (6), USA (7) and Japan (10) in Pool B. Indian women’s team made it to the Olympics after a gap of 35 years following their fifth place finish at the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in July.
The FIH confirmed the groupings on Monday after the Spain Women's and New Zealand Men’s team accepted the invitation to participate in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Groupings:
Men:
Pool A: Australia(1), Great Britain (4), Belgium (5), New Zealand (8), Spain (11), Brazil (32)
Pool B: Netherlands (2), Germany (3), Argentina (6), India (7), Ireland (12) and Canada (14)
Women:
Pool A: Netherlands (1), New Zealand (4), China (5), Germany (8), Korea (9), Spain (14)
Pool B: Argentina (2), Australia (3), Great Britain (6), United States of America (7), Japan (10), India (13)
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