Watch: Team USA arrives in Odisha capital for FIH Series Finals

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Jun 1, 2019 at 12:25 PM Updated On : Jun 1, 2019 at 12:37 PM

Bhubaneswar: The outdoor hockey team of USA arrived in the capital city today, ahead of FIH Series Finals to be held here on June 6.

Hoping to secure a berth in the next qualification round for 2020 Tokyo Olympics, USA Captain Ajai Dhadwal said, “We have been practising with local teams. We went to Ireland and also played matches there. Everything is looking pretty good and the team is looking strong. Hopefully we can take one game at a time and finish in the top two qualifiers for the next round.”

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Currently ranked at no. 25, USA has been grouped with South Africa, Mexico and Japan in Pool B.

“We went to Europe for two and a half weeks, we have been studying film of matches and having individual meetings with players to study our opponents,” added USA defender Sean Cicchi.

Team USA ?? reached the capital city for FIH Men’s Series Finals Bhubaneswar Odisha 2019. They will face #SouthAfrica?? in their opening match of Pool B on June 6.#FIHSeriesFinals #RoadToTokyo #Odisha2019 @USAFieldHockey @SA_Hockey pic.twitter.com/I08nWsZ75f

— Odisha Sports (@sports_odisha) June 1, 2019

USA will play their opening match against South Africa on June 6 at 08:45 pm in Kalinga Stadium. The entry to this match is free for all.

Worth mentioning teams of India, Poland and Russia have already reached here to participate in the 10-day tournament from June 6 to June 15, that will witness eight countries, battle it out to secure top two spots, in order to qualify for the next stage of qualification for the 2020 Olympic Games.