The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has announced a new schedule for the 2020 Olympic Games, which has been postponed due to the corona virus.
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According to the report, the FIH said in a statement that hockey matches were scheduled between July 25 and August 7, 2020 at the Oai Hockey Stadium in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, and the venue has not been changed.
According to the new schedule, hockey matches will be played at Owai Hockey Stadium from July 24, 2021 to August 6, 2021.
Hockey’s first match at the Olympic Games will be between hosts Japan and Australia, according to the old schedule. The host team had to face the 2019 Hockey Pro League champions who won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
The first match of women’s hockey will also be played on the same day between world number one and world champions Netherlands and India.
The Dutch women’s hockey team has won Olympic championship in 1984, 2008 and 2012.
The men’s and women’s gold medal competitions will be held on August 5 and 6, respectively.
The teams for the competition are divided into two pools, Pool A includes Australia, Argentina, India, Spain, New Zealand and Japan. Pool B includes Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa.
It should be noted that the Pakistani hockey team, contrary to tradition, failed to qualify for the Olympics and will not participate in these competitions.
The women’s Pool A includes teams from the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, India and South Africa, while Pool B includes Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Spain, China and Japan.
It may be recalled that in March this year, after the deaths and cases of corona virus were reported globally, most of the countries had demanded the postponement of the event.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics in response to repeated demands.
Later, on April 7, new dates for the Tokyo Olympics were announced, according to which the Games will now be held from July 23 next year.
However, despite being held in 2021, the Olympics will be called ‘Tokyo 2020’.
Thomas Beck, president of the International Olympic Committee, said he was confident of working with the Tokyo 2020 Executive Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese government and all other stakeholders.