Men's Hockey World Cup: India Placed In Pool B With Belgium, Canada and South Africa

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Wednesday announced the pools and match schedule for the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018. The tournament will start on November 28 and will be played till December 16. The 19-day competition will see 16 teams fight it out at the 16,000 capacity Kalinga Stadium for the coveted trophy. The teams have been divided into four pools of four. Rio 2016 Olympic champions Argentina, ranked second in the world, will be competing in Pool A alongside Spain, New Zealand, and France, who are ranked eighth, ninth and 18th respectively.

In Pool B, reigning world champions Australia are placed alongside England (7), Ireland (10) and China (17).

Pool C will see hosts India fight it out with Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists Belgium (3), Canada (11) and African continental champions South Africa (15).

Pool D features European title holders and three time world champions the Netherlands (4), two-time champions Germany (5), Malaysia (12) and Pakistan (13), who are the World Cup winners in 1971, 1978, 1982, 1994.

Two matches will be played each day at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.

India's schedule:

November 28 - India vs South Africa (7 pm)

December 2 - India vs Belgium (7 pm)

December 8 - India vs Canada (7 pm)

The quarter-finals will be played on December 12 and 13 and the semi-final will be played on December 15.

December 15 - Semi-final 1 (5:00 pm); Semi-final 2 (7 pm)

December 16 - Final (7 pm)

Pools:

Pool A: Argentina, New Zealand, Spain, France

Pool B: Australia, England, Ireland, China

Pool C: Belgium, India, Canada, South Africa

Pool D: Netherlands, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan