Hosts India will tackle lower-ranked Spain within the opening match of the Men’s Hockey World Cup on the newly constructed Birsa Munda International Stadium in Rourkela on the primary day of January 13.
Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist India, at present ranked world No. 5 within the FIH rankings, are positioned in Pool D together with England (6), Spain (8) and World Cup debutant Wales (16).
India will play their second match towards England on January 15 in Rourkela, after which they are going to transfer to the capital Bhubaneswar, the place they are going to face Wales of their last group match on January 19.
Pool A is led by world primary Australia, who had received a bronze medal on the final World Cup in 2018. They have been drawn together with 2016 Olympic champions Argentina, France and African champions South Africa.
Defending world champion Belgium is the highest seed and was positioned in Pool B together with 2006 winners Germany, Korea and Japan. Belgium is second and Germany fourth.
The final version’s finalists in Pool C would be the Netherlands, third on the earth, with Oceania’s representatives New Zealand, Malaysia taking part in their ninth World Cup and making their debut in Chile.
According to the fixtures launched by the FIH on Tuesday, 2016 Olympic champions Argentina will tackle South Africa, whereas world No 1 Australia will tackle France on the identical day on the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
While India’s recreation begins at 7 PM IST, the event will start in Rourkela with England taking up Wales within the first recreation. Defending champion and world No. 2 Belgium, who received the title in Odisha in 2018, will tackle South Korea in Bhubaneswar.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
