KNYSNA NEWS - Sam Mvimbi and his South African teammates yesterday learnt their fate for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics after the International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced the pools in which the various countries will compete.
A total of 12 teams will partake in this year's men's Olympic hockey competition.
The announcement of the pools comes following the completion of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifying tournaments in Ranchi, Valencia and Muscat.
In the men’s tournament South Africa will compete for the sixth time and make a second consecutive appearance. They earned their spot with a tight 2-1 win over Egypt in the African Hockey Road to Paris tournament.
South Africa will participate in Pool A where they will face Germany in a rematch of the biggest upset at Tokyo 2021, remarkably the only ever meeting between the two sides at an Olympic Games. South Africa will also face fellow Tokyo pool opposition Netherlands and Great Britain.
South Africa lost a thriller 3-2 to Spain in London and will meet for only the second time ever at Olympic level, while the African continental qualifiers complete their group against France in what will be a first ever Olympic meeting between the two nations.
Pool B sees Asian qualifiers India joined by Pan America champions Argentina and Oceania champions Australia. The group is concluded by Great Britain and New Zealand who qualified in Oman as well as Ireland who secured the final qualification place in Spain.
The SA men's hockey side is currently taking part in the Summer Series in Cape Town, where they're playing matches against Netherlands, India and France in preparation for the Olympic Games.
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