As expected, Iconic Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar has been chosen as the venue for four matches of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers, involving Indian men and women teams on November 1 and 2, 2019. The draw for the Olympic Qualifiers was held at the headquarters of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in Lausanne, Switzerland today.

According to the draw Indian men team will play their two Olympic Qualifiers against World No Russia on November 1 and 2. Indian women are also scheduled to play their two matches against World No 13 the United States of America on November 1 and 2.

World No 5 Indian men team had registered a sensational 10-0 win against World No 22 Russia when the two teams last played against each other during the FIH Series Final in Bhubaneswar earlier this year.

World No 9 Indian women last year faced USA and India played out a hard-fought 1-1 draw against them to qualify for the knockout stages of the Women`s World Cup in London.

As per the Olympic Qualifiers draw, each qualifier consists of two back-to-back matches which will be played in the same venue. The match times will be confirmed at a later stage and updated on FIH website: www.fih.ch

The winners of these FIH Hockey Olympic qualifiers will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games which will be staged in the capital city of Japan from July 25 to August 7 next year and involve 12 men and 12 women teams.

Meanwhile, five men and as many women teams have already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. They are: Men: 1. Japan, 2. Argentina, 3. South Africa, 4. Belgium, 5. Australia. Women: 1. Japan, 2. Argentina, 3. South Africa, 4. The Netherlands, 5. New Zealand.