Bhubaneswar: World No.9 Spain arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport on Tuesday for the prestigious Odisha Men’s Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017, which is scheduled to begin on December 1 at the iconic Kalinga Stadium.
With their arrival, all eight teams have descended in Bhubaneswar for the much-awaited tournament.
The teams were welcomed by Government of Odisha officials accompanied by host nation Hockey India.
According to the Spanish Coach Frederic Soyez, playing against World No.1 Argentina will be their biggest test.
“We are in a tough group with World No.1 Argentina being our toughest test. We have four sessions of practice before we play our first match on December 2. We are quite prepared to play in these conditions. We have earlier played in Australia and have had good outing there. It will be great exposure for us to play the top teams of the world,” Soyez said.
Spain will play their first Pool A match against the Netherlands while Argentina will take on Belgium on December 2.
Meanwhile at the Kalinga Stadium which is all set to host the mega event, Argentina, Netherlands, Australia went through the paces.
Later in the day, Argentina will play their second warm-up match against visiting national team Korea. They lost 0-2 when Argentina played India on Monday evening with Rupinder Pal Singh converted two sensational goals through penalty corner and penalty stroke.
India will play England in their second practice match ahead of the tournament today.(ANI)