India to take on tough Asian rivals in Olympic Qualifiers

New Delhi, Dec 22 (UNI) India will have their last shot at an Olympic berth when they take on Japan, Malaysia and Bangladesh in the qualifiers for Beijing starting February 2, 2008.

After the International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced the six hosts of the Olympic Qualifiers at its Congress last month, the dates for these six tournaments were confirmed yesterday.

Starting from February 2, 2008 the qualifiers will be played out till May 4 and the last three Olympic tickets in each gender will be awarded to the winners of the respective Olympic Qualifiers.

The Qualifiers will the last chance for India if they do not qualify directly through their Continental Championships. The first nine spots in each gender will be filled from December 2006 until September 2007 during the several Continental Championships.

At this stage, China, Korea and Pakistan have already qualified for the men's hockey competition at 2008 Beijing Olympics, while China and Japan have qualified for the women's hockey competition at 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Both for the men's and women's Olympic qualifying tournaments, the best 18 nations not to have qualified will compete in three tournaments of six teams for the last three spots.

The schedule for the Olympic Qualifiers is as follows: February 2-9 2008: Men's Olympic Qualifier in Auckland, New Zealand.

March 1-9 2008: Men's Olympic Qualifier in Santiago, Chile.

April 5-13 2008: Men's Olympic Qualifier in Kakamigahara, Japan.

April 12-20 2008: Women's Olympic Qualifier in Baku, Azerbaijan.

April 19-27 2008: Women's Olympic Qualifier in Kazan, Russia.

April 26-May 4 2008: Women's Olympic Qualifier in Vancouver, Canada.

UNI PM AY HT1442