China to face world No. 1 Germany in Olympic Games hockey tourney

BEIJING, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese men's hockey team will meet Germany, the world's No. 1 team, at the 2008 Beijing Olympic hockey tournament, as the official draw was completed here Monday evening.

Twelve teams which are qualified for the Olympic Games -- China, South Korea, Pakistan, South Africa, Canada, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Germany -- are split into two groups, announced the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG).

China will meet Germany, ranked No. 1 in the world, in Group A, which also includes world No. 4 Spain, No. 5 South Korea, No. 10 New Zealand and No. 12 Belgium.

While world No. 2 Australia will meet No. 3 Netherlands in Group B, which also features No. 8 Britain, No. 13 South Africa as well as No. 15 Canada.

According to the game rules, single round robin will be applied to determine the placing of each team in its group. The top two teams in each pool will progress to the crossover knockout rounds for the final round.

China is ranked No. 17, lowest among all the participating teams.