LAHORE: Pakistan is placed alongside formidable rivals Australia, Spain and Britain in pool ‘A’ at the Olympic hockey, according to the draws announced by the Games Organising Committee on Tuesday.
The Greenshirts will be facing tough rival Spain in the opening match on July 30 at the London Games followed by a clash against Argentina on Aug 1.
On Aug 3, Pakistan will meet Great Britain and then take on South Africa on Aug 5 before playing their last pool match against world champions Australia on Aug 7.
Based on the world rankings, the 12 participating teams are divided into two pools of six each and every team plays each other in pool. The top two teams of each pool qualify for the semi-finals, with the winners then going head-to-head for the gold medal.
The other teams in the two groups play each other in the positional matches.
Pakistan (ranked 8th) along with world No. 1 Australia, hosts Great Britain (ranked 4th), Spain (5th), Argentina (9th) and South Africa (12th) are placed in pool ‘A’.
The pool ‘B’ comprises defending champions Germany (2nd), Holland (3rd),
Korea (6th), New Zealand (7th), India (10th) and Belgium (11th).
All the 12 participating teams will play one match each after one-day rest, from July 30 to Aug 7, before going to play positional matches from Aug 9 to 11. On the day of men’s rest, the women will play their matches.
Reigning men champions Germany will start its campaign to defend the title by playing the opener against Belgium, while Great Britain will take on Argentina.
On Aug 5, top two ranked teams in each pool will go head-to-head as Germany will be playing against Holland and Great Britain playing Australia.
The hockey competition will take place at the Riverbank Arena on the Olympic Park, which recently held International Invitational tournament earlier this month as part of the preparations for the testing event.
APP adds: Pakistan captain Sohail Abbas said on Tuesday that while every game is equally important for Pakistan in the Olympic Games, a possible clash with India could be a mouth-watering proposition for the fans.
“We will be treating every game like final but a game against India will be really exciting for the players as well as a treat for the fans,” said Sohail.
Sohail further said the national team has very good chances of fetching gold in the Olympics because “it is a talented bunch of players who are really charged-up for the big occasion.”
“I am confident that our team will put in their maximum effort in training which will reflect in our performances at the Games. I have complete faith in God and we are working hard for the mega event,” he said.
Pool position:
Pool ‘A’: Australia (1), Great Britain (4), Spain (5), Pakistan (8), Argentina (9), South Africa (12).
Pool ‘B’: Germany (2), Netherlands (3), Korea (6), New Zealand (7), India (10), Belgium (11). Draws: July30: South Korea vs New Zealand; Australia vs South Africa; Spain vs Pakistan; Netherlands vs India; Great Britain vs Argentina; Germany vs Belgium. Aug 1: Spain vs Australia; Belgium vs Netherlands; New Zealand vs India; South Africa vs Great Britain; Pakistan vs Argentina; Korea vs Germany. Aug 3: Australia vs Argentina; Netherlands vs New Zealand; Germany vs India; Great Britain vs Pakistan; South Africa vs Spain; Belgium vs Korea. Aug 5: New Zealand vs Belgium; Pakistan vs South Africa; India vs Korea; Netherlands vs Germany; Great Britain vs Australia; Argentina vs Spain. Aug 7: Australia vs Pakistan; Korea vs Netherlands; Argentina vs South Africa; India vs Belgium; Spain vs Great Britain; Germany vs New Zealand. Aug 9: 9th and 10th position match between the fifth vs fifth of the two pools. 7th and 8th position match between the fourth vs fourth. And semi-finals. Aug 11: 11th and 12th position match between the 6th vs 6th of the two pools and 5th and 6th positional match between the third vs third of the two pools. Third positional match between the losers of the semi-finals.