India may face Pakistan, Austria or Russia in Olympic hockey qualifiers

New Delhi: The FIH Olympic Qualifers draw for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland on Monday. India may face face Pakistan, Austria or Russia.

The pots of the draw have been confirmed. Following the conclusion of the Oceania Cup, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has released the updated FIH World Rankings which comes ahead of the rankings-based draw for the FIH Hockey Olympic qualifiers.From Oceania Cup, New Zealand's women's team and Australian men's team emerged as champions have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.

In men Pot 1 Hosts team are Netherlands, India and Germany have been placed and will face Pot 4 away teams Pakistan, Austria and Russia. Egypt has pulled out of the Olympic qualifiers and the next ranking team Russia has taken the place. 

In Pot 2 Host teams are Great Britain, Spain, New Zealand and Canada will play Pot 3 away teams Malaysia, France, Ireland and korea.  Among women Pot 2 Host teams are Spain, Ireland, India and China will play with Pot 3 away teams Korea, Belgium, US and Canada. 

In Pot 1 are Australia, Germany and Great Britain and they will face Pot 4 teams Italy, Chile and Russia.The Olympic qualifiers will be held from October 25-27 and will take place till November 1-3. The match schedule and venue will be decided after draw.

The Olympic hockey tournament will be played from July 25 to August 7 in which 12 men's and 12 women's team will take part.In the men's Japan, Argentina, South Africa, Belgium and Australia while in women's Japan, Argentina, Holland and New Zealand have qualified due to Continental Champion.(UNI)