World No.5 Indian men's hockey team takes on Russia, ranked 22 in the world, in the second leg of the Olympic qualifiers, with one foot in the 2020 Games. After defeating Russia in the first leg 4-2, India are looking to book their spot at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 on November 2 at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
Mandeep Singh scored twice while Harmanpreet Singh and SV Sunil found a goal each in the first leg on Friday as India took an advantage in the qualifiers.
The winners will be determined as follows: teams will be ranked according to the number of points each has accumulated in both matches (for each match, 3 points are awarded to the winner, 1 point to each team in the event of a draw and 0 points to the loser). If there is equality among the two teams, then the teams will be ranked according to their respective goal difference. If equality remains, a shoot-out competition will be played to establish the winner. Therefore, the objective of both the teams will be to secure direct qualification for the Tokyo 2020 hockey tournaments - which will be staged in Japan's capital city from 25 July to 7 August next year and involve 12 Men's and 12 Women's teams.
While India did manage to beat Russia, they did not play with the fluency that was expected out of them and coach Graham Reid made his disappointment known. "I was disappointed with the way our boys played today. I have spoken to them about that. Hopefully, there will be a reaction tomorrow (SaturdaY). We can show everyone tomorrow how well we can play," Reid said after the match.
Hockey Olympic Qualifiers India squad: Manpreet Singh (C), PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Harmanpreet Singh, Birender Lakra, Surender Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Amit Rohidas, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, SV Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Simranjeet Singh.
What time will Hockey Olympic Qualifiers India vs Russia match start?
The Hockey Olympic Qualifiers India vs Russia match is scheduled to start at 8PM IST. The Hockey Olympic Qualifiers India vs USA will be played at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
Where to watch Hockey Olympic Qualifiers India vs Russia match on TV?
The Hockey Olympic Qualifiers India vs Russia can be viewed on the television on sports channel Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD.
Where to watch Hockey Olympic Qualifiers India vs Russia match on live streaming?
The live streaming of Hockey Olympic Qualifiers India vs Russia will be available on Hotstar and Jio TV.
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