Kookaburras Drawn in Pool A at World League Final

Published On: 24 September 2015

The Australian men’s hockey team has learned its opponents for November’s World League Finals in India, in the Kookaburras’ first major tournament since securing Olympic qualification for Rio.

The Australians will face Belgium in their opening contest at World League Final in November after being drawn in Pool A with the Belgians, Great Britain and Canada.

In July, Australia came out on top over their Belgian hosts in the final of the World League Semi-Final in Antwerp thanks to Chris Ciriello’s goal on the siren. Their top-three finish secured their place at the World League Final and a place at next year’s Olympic Games in Rio.

Hosted by the Indian city of Raipur, Chhattisgarh between 27 November and 6 December 2015, the event will feature the eight national hockey teams that qualified through the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in Buenos Aires and Antwerp.

In addition to the world number one Kookaburras and Belgium (ranked 4), the line-up includes Netherlands (2), Germany (3), Great Britain (5), Argentina (6), hosts India (8) and Canada (13).

The event will be held in the 3,000 capacity Raipur International Hockey Stadium which was opened as a dedicated hockey facility in August 2014.

Following their opening bout against Belgium on 28 November, Graham Reid’s Kookaburras will double up against Great Britain the following day and finish their pool phase with Canada on 1 December.

Australia’s rivalry with Belgium has grown in recent years with the pair also meeting in the final of the 2013 World League Semi-Final. On that occasion they had to be separated by a sudden death shoot-out after a 2-2 draw with Belgium taking the spoils.

“The Hockey World League Final is going to be an extremely exciting event, with all eight teams having qualified for the 2016 Olympics. This will be one of the last opportunities to test themselves against one another in international competition before they head out to Rio for the Games later next year,” said Leandro Negre, President of the International Hockey Federation.

This is the second edition of the Hockey World League. The inaugural Hockey World League men’s Final was held in New Delhi, India and was won by the Netherlands. Australia finished fourth.

-HockeyAus