Men’s hockey team to meet Germany, Holland in Rio

The FIH confirmed that Spain women and New Zealand men had officially accepted invitations to participate in the Rio Games after they were extended invitations following the withdrawal of South Africa.

The Indian hockey team has been paired with Olympic champions Germany and silver medallists Holland in Pool B of the Rio Games next year, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced. India, who finished at the bottom of the London Games, have Argentina, Ireland and Canada also in their group. Pool A comprises world number 1 Australia, Great Britain, Belgium, New Zealand, Spain and hosts Brazil. For India to progress to the semi-finals, they have to be among the top two for only two teams from each group will advance to the last four, while the rest play each other for classification spots.

The FIH confirmed that Spain women and New Zealand men had officially accepted invitations to participate in the Rio Games after they were extended invitations following the withdrawal of South Africa. The African champions had qualified for the Games but they decided not to send their teams owing to stringent criteria set by their Olympic committee.

The Indian women, who qualified for the Games after a 36-year gap, are placed in Pool B along side Argentina, Australia, Great Britain, USA and Japan. Women’s Pool A includes defending Olympic and reigning world champions Netherlands, ranked number 1 in the world, New Zealand, China, Germany, Korea and Spain.

Gurbaj unhappy

Meanwhile, midfielder Gurbaj Singh, who successfully took legal route to get his nine-month ban overturned, has hit out at Hockey India again for not giving him an opportunity to play in the fourth season of Hockey India League (HIL) starting in January. Gurbaj, whose ban for alleged groupism in the Indian team was revoked in October, feels HI has unfairly excluded him from the list of 182 reserve players for the HIL. “I understand I was not included in the September HIL auction because my ban was still valid. But they (HI) should have included me in the HIL reserve list. That way any of the teams could have picked me up if a player was injured,” Gurbaj said.