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India's bugbear from the 2016 Rio Olympics Canada too will be vying for an Olympic berth when they take on Ireland at home in West Vancouver on 26 and 27 November 2019."It's going to be a great weekend of hockey with Pakistan taking on the Netherlands and Spain taking on France. Canada, who gave us the woes back in Rio Olympics will also be playing for an Olympic spot when they take on Ireland. Anything can happen in such crunch games and all teams will come prepared to win a berth for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics," stated SV Sunil, India's vice-captain, who has been entrusted with the responsibility of Vice captain for the FIH Olympic Qualifiers"We will be watching these matches together as a team activity and I don't think we can predict a clear winner simply because these are Olympic Qualifiers and any team can create an upset. We have seen such results in the past," he added.The Indian team during their recent tour to Belgium underwent joint training sessions with the Dutch national team which SV Sunil, India's most experienced striker, described as 'high intensity training'."We got to see the level of intensity they (the Netherlands) brought to their training sessions. We monitored their GPS tracking to see the kind of energy they bring into every drill and every interval. They looked in good nick. One can never take their opponents lightly especially when an Olympic Qualification is at stake and a first-hand glimpse of the Netherlands training ahead of their Qualifier against Pakistan showed that they were not taking their opponents lightly."I am sure the Qualifying matches this weekend are going to be top-notch. We saw what France is capable of when they beat Olympic Champions Argentina in the Men's World Cup last year and the result eventually put Spain out of the knockout stage. They are a very capable team and are developing fast into a strong hockey playing nation," he said.Sunil added that while the Indian team is going through final preparations in Bhubaneswar, watching these matches will give them an understanding of what to expect in the upcoming season when India plays the FIH Hockey Pro League starting in January.( With inputs from IANS )

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The Indian men's hockey team has kicked-off their Pro-League campaign on a bright note as they emerged victorious in both of their two games against world no. 3 ranked Netherlands. The best thing in each game was that the defence, especially the Pena ...

India got their debut Pro League campaign off to a winning start with a 5-2 win over world no. 3 Netherlands. In what is the first of two matches that will be played between the two sides at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar, India rode on goals fro ...

Indian midfielder Chinglensana Singh Kangujam said that he did not give up hope despite having thoughts about never being able to play for the team again after his injury. ...

Ahead of the clash against India, Netherlands chief coach Max Caldas said that their opponent is a very challenging side at home conditions here on Saturday. ...

Ahead of the FIH Hockey Pro League season, India's Mandeep Singh said he is looking forward to making a winning start in 2020. ...

The final fixtures for the upcoming Men's T20 World Cup were announced on Sunday as Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands, Oman, Papua New Guinea and Scotland qualified for the tournament after an impressive showing at the global qualifying event. ...

As the FIH Olympic Qualifiers are inching closer, India's Sunil SV has said that they cannot predict a clear winner from any match as each team has the potential to create an upset. ...

While the Indian men's hockey team eagerly await their challenge against Russia in the FIH Olympic qualifiers to be held at the Kalinga Stadium here on November 1 and 2, the team will keep a close eye on the qualifying matches which begin this weeke ...