India to take on Australia in their Hockey World League Final opener

New Delhi: The schedule for the upcoming Hockey World League final has been announced. The tournament will take place in India in the month of December. Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, will host the tourney.

India have the home advantage but have been placed in a tough group which includes world champions Australia, heavyweight Germany, and England. The tournament will be played from December 1 to 10.

India will face Australia in their campaign opener. After taking on the Kookaburras on December 1, India will face England on December 2 and Germany on December 4.

European rivals Germany and England will get the event off to a flier before the India-Australia duel. Pool A, meanwhile, consists of Olympic champions Argentina, European champions Netherlands and Olympic silver medallists Belgium and Spain.

In what is being billed as 'Super Saturday', December 2 is set to be a thriller with some eagerly anticipated matches scheduled. A rerun of the 2016 Olympic gold medal match between Argentina and Belgium will get the day underway in a match that is bound to rekindle some fond memories from that special night in Rio just over a year ago.

The Pool stages will run from December 1-5 and will be followed by the quarter-finals on December 6-7. Following the classification matches, the semi-finals will take place over the next two days before the bronze medal match and the Final on December 10. (With IANS inputs)