"China and Ireland are no pushovers. So we will have to

be on our guard against these two sides," Sardar added. On the other hand, the tournament could be more challenging for the Indian women's team to be captained by Ritu Rani. Japan -- ranked 9th -- start as the favourites in the women's competition. But the 12th ranked Indians are sure to give a tough fight to the Japanese. Just like the men's event, the other participating nations in the women's competition -- Fiji (59th), Russia (20th), Malaysia (22nd) and Kazakhstan (33) -- too lack teeth. The Indian eves open their campaign against Kazakhstan tomorrow, followed by games against Malaysia, Fiji, Japan and Russia. The HWL, floated by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for men and women, will be held over a two-year cycle. The first cycle, which started in August last year and would continue till February 2014, will serve as the qualifier for the World Cup, while the next two-year cycle would become a qualifying competition for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Eight teams from four Round 2 events (to be played on single pool round-robin format) will be eligible to participate in Round 3 (which will have two pools of four teams each followed by the classification matches). The Round 2 will be played simultaneously at New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Saint-Germain-en-Laye (France) and Elektrostal (Russia). The eight top ranked sides in the world will get a bye directly to play in the two third round events, which will serve as the semi-finals. The best six finishers in the semi-finals will make it to the World Cup or the Olympics. The host nation and five continental champions will complete in the remaining slots. The top eight teams from the Hockey World League semi-finals will be eligible to take part in the final (which will follow the format of Round 3).