The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams will open their campaigns against New Zealand and the Netherlands respectively at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on July 25, the world body (FIH) said in Tokyo on Tuesday.

According to the match schedule of next year’s Olympics released by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), both the Indian teams will open their campaigns on the first day of hockey competitions.

After New Zealand, eight-time champions in the men’s competition, India will face world number one Australia on July 26, before taking on Spain (July 28), defending champions Argentina (July 30) and hosts Japan (July 31) in Group A.

The women’s team, who are also clubbed in Group A, will lock horns with Germany on July 27, before meeting Great Britain (July 29), Ireland (July 31) and South Africa (August 1).

The men’s and women’s gold medal matches will take place on August 6 and 7 respectively, the FIH said in a statement.

The Indian men’s team, ranked fifth in the world, had qualified for the Tokyo Games after beating Russia 11-3 on aggregate in the Olympic qualifiers held in Bhubaneswar earlier this month.

Ranked ninth in the world, the Indian women’s team had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after beating the United States 6-5 on aggregate in the qualifiers held in Bhubaneswar earlier this month.

The match schedule of the Tokyo Olympic hockey tournaments was announced during a press briefing in Tokyo which was attended by FIH Executive Board Member and IOC Olympic Solidarity Commission Member Tayyab Ikram, Tokyo 2020 Sports Director Koji Murofushi, Japan Women’s hockey national team player Shihori Oikawa, and Japan Men’s hockey national team player Seren Tanaka.

Here is the full schedule for Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams:

Schedule for Indian men's hockey team

Date Time (IST) Fixture Venue
Saturday, July 25 6:30 am New Zealand vs India South Pitch
Sunday, July 26 3:00 pm India vs Australia North Pitch
Tuesday, July 28 6:30 am India vs Spain South Pitch
Thursday, July 30 6:00 am India vs Argentina North Pitch
Friday, July 31 3:00 pm Japan vs India North Pitch

Schedule for Indian women's hockey team

Date Time (IST) Fixture Venue
Saturday, July 25 5:15 pm Netherlands vs India North Pitch
Monday, July 27 5:45 pm Germany vs India South Pitch
Wednesday, July 29 6:30 am Great Britain vs India South Pitch
Friday, July 31 8:15 am Ireland vs India North Pitch
Saturday, August 1 8:45 am India vs South Africa South Pitch