The International Hockey Federation on Saturday confirmed the pools for the men’s and women’s events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Indian men’s team find themselves in a group with World No 1 side Australia, fourth-ranked Argentina, eighth-ranked Spain, New Zealand and hosts Japan.
India will have a task on their hands to qualify for the quarter-finals from this group that is set to provide them with plenty of competition.
The women’s team will be up against Rio gold-medalists Great Britain, top-ranked Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and South Africa.
The top four ranked teams from each pool advance to the quarter-finals. All the games will be held at the Oi Hockey stadium in Tokyo from July 25 to August 7. The schedule of the matches will be announced at a later stage.
The Indian men’s team beat Russia, while the women’s team overcame a stiff challenge from the USA in the FIH Olympic qualifiers in Bhubaneswar last month to book their place at the Tokyo Games.
Pools:
Men
Pool A: Australia, Argentina, India, Spain, New Zealand, Japan
Pool B: Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, South Africa
Women
Pool A: Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, India, South Africa
Pool B: Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Spain, China, Japan