FIH Pro League crucial tournament for us ahead of Paris Olympics, says Spain captain Marc Miralles on reaching Bhubaneswar

Spain will begin their campaign on Feb 10 against hosts India.

The World No. 8 Spain men’s hockey team arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on Monday ahead of their Men’s FIH Pro League 2023/24 matches in India.

The Men’s FIH Pro League 2023/24 (Men) is scheduled to take place at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar from 10th to 16th February, before moving to the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, where the league will continue from 19th to 25th February.

Five national teams – Ireland, The Netherlands, India, Spain and Australia – will participate in the India leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 (Men), facing each other once in Bhubaneswar and once in Rourkela.

Spain will play their first match of the FIH Pro League 2023/24 (Men) on 10th February against hosts India, followed by a contest against Australia, on 11th February. They will then take on Netherlands, the World No.1 ranked team, on 13th February and Ireland on 15th February in their final fixture in the Bhubaneswar leg before heading to Rourkela.

When asked about the importance of the tournament after having landed in Bhubaneswar, Spain’s Captain Marc Miralles said, “It is a crucial tournament for us. We just qualified for the Olympics a couple of weeks ago. It’s important for us to play our eight games really well to have as many points as possible.”

When asked about the toughest side, Marc Miralles said, “We played a really tough game against Ireland in the Olympic qualifiers. The Netherlands are the defending champions, and India is playing at home, so I think we’re going to have some fun games.”

He signed off by saying, “We are in good shape having played the Olympic qualifiers recently. We’ve trained well in the gym and are ready for the challenge.”

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