Bhubaneswar: With less than a month to go before the FIH Men’s Hockey Series Finals to kick-off at the Kalinga Stadium here, the hockey fever has gripped the city again as the tickets for the mega event to go online Tuesday. The tickets will be available at ticketgenie.in Tuesday 11am onwards.
While most of the matches in the 10-day tournament have been scheduled for 5pm and 7pm starting, there are five matches June 6 (South Africa vs USA), June 7 (Japan vs Mexico), June 10 (USA vs Japan), June 12 (7th-8th place play-off) and June 14 (5th-6th place play-off) which are stated for 8:45am start.
The tickets are priced at Rs 200 (East Stand), Rs 100 (South and North Stand) for the group stage matches while the tickets for semifinals and final June 14 and 15 are priced at Rs 250 (East Stand) and Rs 150 (South and North Stand). However, there will be free entry for the spectators for the morning (8:45am) matches.
The tournament will also act as a crucial pathway for the 2020 Olympic qualifying pathway as the top two teams will make it to the next round of Olympic Games Qualification process. Hosts India are the highest ranked team in the tournament which will also witness Asian Games Gold Medallist Japan, Mexico, USA, Poland, South Africa, Russia and Uzbekistan to view for the top two spot.
However it is to be noted that if Japan finish in the top two, they will not secure a place in the Olympic qualifiers since they have already qualified as both host of the 2020 Olympic Games and winners of the Asian Games.
But if Japan finish in the top two, then the team that finishes third does not automatically qualify for the Olympic qualifiers. Such additional place is determined by the FIH World Rankings as at the completion of the continental championships.