Olympic field hockey schedule announced; Canada opens August 6 vs Germany
PHOTO: The 2016 Olympic Games field hockey competition will be played at the Olympic Hockey Centre in Deodoro, Brazil.
With only 100 days to go until the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have confirmed the draw and schedule for the Olympic field hockey tournament, which is set to take place from August 6-18.
Canada – ranked 14th in the latest world rankings – has drawn into Pool B with the Netherlands (World No.2), Germany (No.3), Argentina (No.6), India (No.7) and Ireland (No.12). Canada will play its first game on August 6 against the Germans at 6:00pm local time at the Olympic Hockey Centre in Deodoro.
The Canadians will then face Argentina on August 8th (12:30pm), Holland on August 9th (1:30pm), Ireland on August 11 (11:00am), and India in their final pool stage game on August 12th (12:30pm).
For the first time at an Olympic Games, the field hockey tournament will be played in a quarterfinal format, with the top four teams from each pool moving on to a crossover quarterfinal match (i.e. Seed 1 from Pool A meets Seed 4 from Pool B, etc.). There are no classification games, so only eight of the twelve teams will advance to the playoff round.
Canada has recent history with each of the teams in its pool, having faced each team in competition at least once in the last year.
The rivalry with fellow Pan American representative, Argentina, is as strong as any. The two teams have met in the Pan American Games final eleventh straight years, most recently in Toronto last summer.
Canada and India met only weeks ago at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, while the Canadians met the Irish in two friendly matches in South Africa in January. Canada took on Germany and the Netherlands in the World League competition that was held in 2015.
Group A consists of Australia (No.1), Great Britain (No.4 – England), Belgium (No.5), New Zealand (No.8), Spain (No.11), and host Brazil (No.32).
This will be the seventh Olympics for the Canadian men’s field hockey team. The best they have finished in previous games is 10th (on four separate occasions).
For more information about the 2016 Olympic field hockey competition, click here.
For Canada schedule, results, and game recap, click here.
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