Hockey World League: India men play opener against Fiji; women lock horns with Kazakhstan

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) released the schedule of the Hero Hockey World League Round 2 2013 for men and women groups. The tournament will be held between February 18 and 24 at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here.

The men's group will feature teams from China, Ireland, Bangladesh, Oman, Fiji and India while women from Japan, Russia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Fiji and India will be competing against each other.

The Indian men's team will play its first match against Fiji on February 18 followed by a clash against China on February 23.  The women's team will also start its on the same day with a match against Kazakhstan followed by their match against hard-hitting Japan on February 22.

Matches will begin at 10 in the morning with six matches scheduled to be played on 18, 21 and 24 of the month while three will be played on 19, 20, 22 and 23 February at 4, 6 and 8 p.m.

The Hockey World League is a qualifying league for the 2014 World Cup which will be held in the Netherlands. In the men's category, 54 countries are participating and a total of 45 teams from five continents are participating in the women's category.

In first round of the league, held from August  17 to December 15 last year, 34 teams participated and played matches in a round-robin format in nine venues. Thirteen teams qualified from Round 1 and will now join 10 higher-ranked teams in Round 2.

The twenty-three teams in the FIH Hockey World League Round 2 will compete against each other at four venues - New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Saint-Germain-en-Laye (France) and Elektrostal (Russia) - from February 18 to June 2. Seven teams will qualify from Round 2 and will join nine highest-ranked teams in the FIH Hockey World League Round 3 (Semi-Final league), to be held in the Netherlands and Malaysia from June 13 to  July 7.

India's Schedule:

India vs Kazakhstan 18th February 6 p.m. (Women)

India vs Fiji       18th February 8 p.m. (Men)

India vs Malysia    19th Febraury 8 p.m. (Women)

India vs Oman       20th February 8 p.m. (Men)

India vs Fiji       21st February 6 p.m. (Women)

India vs Ireland    21st February 8 p.m. (Men)

India vs Japan      22nd February 8 p.m. (Women)

India vs China      23rd February 8 p.m. (Men)

India vs Russia     24th February 6 p.m. (Women)

India vs Bangladesh 24th February 8 p.m. (Men)