Paris Olympics: India placed in Pool ‘B’ with heavyweights Belgium, Australia, Argentina

India skipper Harmanpreet Singh

Asian Games champions and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists India are place in a tough Pool ‘B' in the men's hockey competition at this year's Paris Games. Eight-time champions India, who clinched a historic bronze medal in Tokyo after a hiatus of 41 years, have been clubbed with reigning Olympic champions and World No.2 Belgium, mighty Australia, Rio Games gold medallist Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland.

The Indians are currently ranked third in the world, behind Belgium and the Netherlands, and they had found it tough to beat Tokyo silver medallist Australia and Argentina in the past. Pool ‘A', meanwhile, consists of Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, France and South Africa. The participating teams have been allocated their respective pools on the basis of the FIH World Rankings as on Sunday. The top four teams from each pool in both men's and women's competitions will qualify for the quarter-finals. The Paris Olympics will be held from July 26 till August 11 and hockey competitions will start from July 27 and end on August 9.

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India thrash France

Meanwhile, India skipper Harmanpreet Singh scored a brace as the Indian team thrashed France 4-0 to begin its campaign in the Four-Nation Tournament in Cape Town, South Africa, on a rousing note here on Monday. Harmanpreet (13th, 26th minutes) converted two penalty corners while Lalit Upadhyay (42nd) and vice-captain Hardik Singh (49) were the other goal scorers for India.

Pakistan fail to qualify for Paris; ex-stars furious

Pakistan's embattled men's hockey team has failed to qualify for the Olympic Games for a third consecutive time after losing its final shot at a Paris ticket in the FIH Qualifiers in Oman, a result that left the game's former greats here sad and outraged in equal measure. After losing 0-4 to Germany in the semi-final, Pakistan went down 2-3 to New Zealand in the third-place match last night, ending their chances of making it to this year's Paris Olympics. "What do you expect bhai [brother], when the team is sent to the Olympic qualifiers with just 18 days training whereas all the other teams have come there with months of preparation," ex-Olympian Wasim Feroze said. Former captain Samiullah Khan said: "If we can't even win one match which was like a final for us what is going to happen?"

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