By Marcus Uhe
HOCKEY PREVIEW
The 12 competing nations have been divided into two pools of six.
Each team in each group will face each other once before the top four of each pool enter the knock-out rounds.
POOLS (World Ranking)
Pool A: Netherlands (1), Belgium (4), Germany (3), Japan (10), China (8), France (20).
Pool B: AUSTRALIA (5), Argentina (2), Great Britain (6), Spain (7), United States (13), South Africa (18).
Australia Schedule (All times AEST)
8.45pm Sunday 28 July v South Africa
1am Tuesday 30 July v Great Britain
9.15pm Wednesday 31 July v United States
4.15am Friday 2 August v Argentina
8.45pm Saturday 3 August v Spain
Tokyo results: Gold – Netherlands, Silver – Argentina, Bronze – Great Britain.
Australia – 5th. Lost a quarter-final to India 1-0.
Having not claimed an Olympic medal since Sydney, the Hockeyroos will be eager to break a 24-year drought when they take the pitch in Paris.
Australia should consider themselves a strong chance to progress from the group stage, having avoided three of the top for ranked sides in the Pool division.
The schedule, however, has not been kind to them, drawn to face its strongest opponents in Argentina and Great Britain on the second days of back-to-back fixtures.
Tokyo nemesis, India has not qualified for the 2024 Games, but the competition remains strong across the field.
Great Britain got the better of the Hockeyroos in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, while the Netherlands are the current powerhouse of the sport, as the reigning World Champions and defending Gold Medallists from Tokyo.
The Dutch have a proud history in women’s hockey at the Olympics, with nine medals (four gold, two silver, three bronze) from 10 Games campaigns, including three of the last four golds.
Interestingly, the Hockey venue, the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium, carries extra significance, as the only venue to host events from the previous Paris Olympics back in 2024.
“India might be out, but you’ve got someone like the USA who hasn’t been to the Olympics for hockey for (a long time) and have been playing good hockey,” Emerald Hockeyroo Amy Lawton said.
“The European teams always play good hockey and then you’ve got teams like South Africa who, we only really come up against in major games like this, who have fast players and are a bit more tactically sound, because they have to train together and don’t play too many international games leading into the Olympics.
“You cannot predict how other teams are going to whip things out of nowhere, like penalty corners and new structures, all that kind of stuff, because it all adds up to win this one.”
