India meet Belgium first
in Champions Challenge hockey

India will take on Belgium in their opening match of the inaugural Champions Challenge men's hockey tournament.

The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Delhi, but the International Hockey Federation (FIH) was forced to change the venue following security concerns expressed by the participating teams. It will now be held between December 7 to 15 at the National Hockey Stadium, in Kuala Lumpur.

Argentina, Belgium, India, Japan, Malaysia and South Africa are the participating nations.

The winner will earn a place in the next Champions Trophy tournament, to be played in Cologne, Germany, in August 2002.

South Africa will take on Argentina in the opening match of the tournament on December 7, while the hosts will face Japan in the last match of the day which will be played under lights.

FIH has approved the Malaysian request for scheduling their matches at night because of the fasting month of Ramadan.

On Wednesday, the match schedule was approved by the FIH.

FIH secretary-general Peter Cohen said Kuala Lumpur would get a chance to test its organisational capabilities ahead of the World Cup finals from February 24 to March 9, 2002.

The FIH are still looking for an alternative venue for the women's Champions Challenge event, which was also scheduled to be held in Delhi on the same dates.

Schedule:
December 7: South Africa vs Argentina; India vs Belgium; Malaysia vs Japan
December 8: South Africa vs India; Belgium vs Malaysia
December 9: Japan vs Argentina
December 10: Japan vs South Africa; Argentina vs Belgium; Malaysia vs India
December 11: Belgium vs South Africa
December 12: India vs Japan; Malaysia vs Argentina
December 13: Japan vs Belgium; India vs Argentina; Malaysia vs South Africa
December 15: 5th ranked v 6th ranked; 3rd ranked v 4th ranked; 1st ranked v 2nd ranked - final