Pools for Paris Olympics hockey events revealed, Indian men's team drawn with defending champions Belgium

Lausanne [Switzerland], January 22 : The pools for the Paris Olympics 2024 men's and women's hockey tournaments have been revealed, with the Indian men's hockey team drawn along with top teams like the second-ranked team Belgium, which is also the defending champions in men's competition and Australia, the three-time World Cup champions.

International Hockey Federation (FIH) issued a statement announcing the same.

"Following the completion of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers yesterday, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) can reveal the Pools of the Paris 2024 Olympic hockey tournaments as follows," said a statement from FIH.

-Women

Pool A: Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Japan, China and France

Pool B: Australia, Argentina, Great Britain, Spain, United States and South Africa

-Men

Pool A: Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, France and South Africa

Pool B: Belgium, India, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland

The participating teams have been allocated to their respective Pools on the basis of the FIH World Rankings at 23:59 CET on January 21, 2024 and in the following order:

Pool A: teams ranked 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th and 12th

Pool B: teams ranked 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 10th and 11th

The 12 teams per gender have qualified for the Olympic Games either as hosts, winner of their Continental Qualifier or Top three finisher of their FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier.

Notably, the Indian women's hockey team failed to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics following a semifinal finish in the Tokyo Olympics. In the FIH Women's Hockey Qualifiers held recently, India reached the semifinals, where they lost to Germany by 3-4 on penalties. In the third-place finish match, they lost to Japan by 0-1 and fumbled their last chance to qualify for the multi-sport extravaganza.

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