The Indian men’s hockey team will start its campaign at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games against Ghana on July 31, while the women’s team will also take on the same rivals on July 29.
Two-time silver medalist Indian men have been placed in a relatively easy Pool B with England, Canada, Wales and Ghana while Pool A includes six-time champions Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Scotland.
Indian women are in Pool A, which also includes England, Canada, Wales and Ghana.
After Ghana, the Indian men will play hosts and previous edition’s bronze winners England on August 1, followed by matches against Canada (3 August) and Wales (August 4).
After Ghana, the women will play Wales, England (August 2) and Canada (August 3) on 30 July.
In both the men’s and women’s competition the top two teams from each pool qualify for the semi-finals.
The men’s semi-final will be played on August 6 and the final on August 8.
The women’s semi-finals and final will be played on August 5 and 7 respectively.
India will send its ‘A’ teams for both men and women to the Birmingham Games due to little change between the Hangzhou Asian Games, a qualifying tournament for the Commonwealth Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The two events will take place over a span of just 32 days and the national federation is looking to keep fresh its first-choice players for the Asian Games.
The Birmingham Commonwealth Games will be held from 28 July to 8 August.
In other matches, gold and silver medalists from Gold Coast 2018, Australia and New Zealand will face each other in the group stages of both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
According to the competition schedule for hockey announced on Wednesday, both the women’s and men’s competitions will begin on July 29, with the inaugural season of the women’s tournament featuring defending champions New Zealand against Kenya and South Africa against Scotland.
In the opening match of the men’s competition, hosts England will face Ghana and New Zealand will face Scotland in the same season.
There will be a total of 54 hockey matches, consisting of 40 group games, six classification matches, four semi-finals, and four medal matches.
All these matches will be played at the university.
“It’s going to be a great tournament with an impressive line-up of teams, including all the medalists from the previous edition of the Commonwealth Games,” said Matt Kidson, Birmingham 2022 Sports Director.
International Hockey Federation (FIH) CEO Thierry Weil said: “After the participating teams were revealed last week, the publication of the match schedule marks another important milestone on the road to the upcoming Commonwealth Games.”
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