Hockey Olympic Qualifiers: Battles for Tokyo 2020 start on Friday
Rajan Nath
October 24th 2019 04:42 PM
Fourteen teams each, both in men's and women's sections, will join the do or die battles starting tomorrow to secure their berths in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. It is the first qualification process of its kind as the next two weekends (October 25-27 & November 1-3) will see some fascinating hockey matches.
India starts its battle against Russia in men's section and face the US in women's section. Both these games will be played at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar on November 1 and 2. The visiting US women's hockey team played two Test matches against Canada. It lost one and won the other. Canadian women will be playing Ireland in Dublin while Canadian men will play Ireland in Vancouver.
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Interestingly, Pakistan trying to fight back for a place in Olympics, had some practice games against a visiting team from Oman. Before heading for Amsterdam where it will play the Netherlands, Pakistan stopped en route for two Test matches against Germany. Pakistan lost both the games 1-6 and 2-6.
Other Asian team in men's section , Malaysia, will play Great Britain in Great Britain on November 2 and 3.
Most of the teams featuring in Olympic Qualifiers played Test matches and also in multi-nation tournaments as a part of their final preparation for the Olympic Qualifiers. Spain played Argentina and Great Britain. New Zealand had games against Asian champions Japan.
-PTC News