India and Pakistan have been drawn in Pool B in the Hockey World League semi-finals to be held in London at Lee’s Valley and Hockey Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, next year from June 15 to 25. The schedule for the tournament was released on Saturday by the International Hockey Federation.
The last time that the two teams played against each other was in the final of the 2016 Asian Champions Trophy in October in Malaysia where India defeated Pakistan 3-2 to win the title. The Indo-Pak clash in the HWL semi-final will be held on Sunday, June 17 with the match already being termed “Super Sunday”
The HWL is the qualifier for the 2018 Hockey World Cup and currently, four other teams have qualified for the tournament. These countries are England, Argentina, Netherlands and South Korea. While Argentina, England and South Korea have been placed in Pool A, Netherlands is the third team in Pool B.
Apart from these six countries, four other countries will qualify for the HWL semi-finals, based on their results in the HWL Round 2 tournaments that will be held from January unto April 2017. The most successful teams in the HWL semi-final will qualify for the 2018 World Cup to be held in India. In addition, these top teams will also play the HWL finals to be held in 2017.