Indian senior men’s hockey team will launch their campaign against much-improving Belgium in the 2014 Rabobank Men’s Hockey World Cup slated to be held at the Kyocera Stadium in The Hague, Netherlands from May 31 to June 15.
It may be worth mentioning that the Blueshirts are pitted in Pool A alongside world champions and newly-crowned world number one Australia, 4th ranked England, 5th ranked Belgium, 10th ranked Spain and 13th ranked Malaysia,
Hosts and 3rd ranked Netherlands are in placed in Pool B alongside 2nd ranked Germany, 6th ranked New Zealand, 7th ranked Korea, 11th ranked Argentina and 12th ranked South Africa.
According to the fixtures released by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) today, India will face Belgium on the opening day of the tournament on May 31. The Blueshirts will next play England on June 2. They will have a two-day rest before taking Spain on June 5. India will lock horns with Malaysia on June 7 and world number one Australia on June 9 in their last league clash.
It is also pertinent to note that the 2014 World Cup will only be the second time that both the men's and women's editions will be held at the same time and at the same location.
India, who recently advanced two places to 8th spot in the FIH World Hockey Rankings, following their sixth place finish in the recently-concluded Hockey World League Final, will find the going tough in Pool A. They can take heart from their lion-hearted showing in the Hockey World League Final, where they nearly got the better of Olympic champions Germany twice before settling for a draw due to a late goal leaked by Sardar Singh.
Interestingly, India faced three of the Pool A teams in the recently-concluded Hockey World League Final. India lost 2-7 to Australia after leading 2-0 at one stage – they lost to England 0-2 in their tournament opener and then went down to Belgium 1-2 after leading them in the 5th place play-off tie. India last faced Spain and lost to them in a penalty shootout in a play-off tie of the Hockey World League Final semifinals in Rotterdam in June 2013.
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