Russia, Poland arrive for FIH Series Finals

As Odisha prepares to host FIH Series Finals, teams from Russia and Poland arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport on Friday.

The tournament is scheduled to run from June 6 to 15 this year at Kalinga Stadium.

The FIH Series gives developing hockey-playing nations the opportunity to test themselves against some of the world's best and to qualify for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

"We want to be in the next round, we did really good preparation for this tournament. I hope it is going to be okay and we will be promoted in the next round," Russian hockey skipper Denis Shchipachev told reporters.

"We did some camps in Russia and Europe. We played friendly matches in Belgium. It is always exciting to play your first match against India. The stadium will be jam-packed and we will try our best to perform nicely," he added.

Russia have been grouped in Pool A along with host India, Poland, Uzbekistan. On the other hand, South Africa, Japan, the United States and Mexico form Pool B.

"We have had good preparation. We played against Russian and Scotland teams. I think we are ready to perform nicely in the tournament," Poland hockey player Maciej Janiszewski told reporters.

"We must finish first or second. If we finish third or fourth we don't get promoted. Our group is very strong, we are hoping for a good game against India. We would be playing against India second time this year, we lost 10-0 in our earlier meeting, but we are hoping of a turnaround," he added.

Russia will take on host India, whereas Poland will meet Uzbekistan on June 6, respectively.