India cave in 1-3 to Australia for the fourth successive defeat in five -match hockey series
Captain Harmanpreet Singh (12’) gave a lead to the visitors but Jeremy Hayward (19’, 47’) and Jack Welch (54’) scored goals to help hosts secure victory.
The Indian women’s hockey team have been clubbed in Pool A for next year’s Tokyo Olympics. India have been placed alongside defending champions Great Britain and world number one women’s team Netherlands.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic hockey tournaments: pools confirmed!#RoadToTokyo #GiftOfHockey #Tokyo2020@olympicchannel @Olympics @iocmedia @Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/VfS62Knrpn
— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) November 23, 2019
Advertisement
Germany, Ireland and South Africa are also there in Pool A. Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Spain, China and host Japan form the Pool B.
Indian team, who are ranked ninth, had qualified for the Olympics by beating the United States of America (USA) 6-5 on aggregate in the qualifiers that were played in Bhubaneshwar earlier this month.
The Indian men’s hockey team, on the other hand, have also been placed alongside the defending champions and world number one of men’s hockey Argentina and Austalia respectively in Pool A.
The other teams in the Pool are Spain, New Zealand and Japan. Pool B consist of Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Canada and South Africa.
Ranked fifth in men’s hockey, India had defeated Russia 11-3 on aggregate in the qualifiers held at the same time as the women’s qualifier.
“To determine the composition of the pools, the same process has been applied as for the Olympic Games Rio 2016. With all participating teams being ranked among the top 16 teams of the current FIH World Rankings, fans can expect thrilling hockey encounters in Tokyo next year,” the International Hockey Federation (FIH) said in a media release on Saturday.
Hockey matches will be played during next year’s Olympics will be played at the Oi Hockey Stadium from July 25 to August 7.
(With inputs from IANS)
Advertisement
