Ireland to face India, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Belgium at Paris Olympics

25.01.2024 - 18:21 rte.ie

Ireland's senior men's hockey side will face India, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Belgium in their pool at this summer's Olympic Games in Paris.Mark Tumilty's side defeated Korea 4-3 on Sunday last in their winner-takes-all third-place play-off in Valencia to secure a trip to the French capital.The other pool comprises Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, France and South Africa, with the top four in each progressing to the quarter-finals.Looking ahead to the summer, coach Tumilty said: "We have a very busy period, between now and the summer, in the run up to the games."We have the FIH Pro League, a trip to India and the games themselves in Paris.

The Pro League will be 16 games against the top eight nations in the world and that in itself will be excellent preparation for the Olympic tournament in July- August."After Ireland booked their ticket to the Games, he told RTÉ Sport: "For someone who wasn't a full-time coach in 2019 and I often made the joke when I was coaching that I would never be given the chance to coach the national team.

I came in on the back of that Olympic qualifier in 2019 and we were unsuccessful. That was probably the toughest day I've ever had."I was determined after that to grow something and a programme that was capable of getting us to Paris and I always said that.

hockey Sport Olympic Games Paris Olympics Britain France Germany Belgium Netherlands Spain Argentina Australia South Africa county Valencia Ireland New Zealand India

In a European women's basketball qualifier last week, Ireland's national team refused to shake hands or engage in the usual pre-game courtesies with their Israeli opponents. The reason stated by Ireland's basketball federation was that Israeli player Dor Saar, in an interview leading up to the game, had said the Irish players "are quite antisemitic."

Alcaraz says he would pick Paris Olympics gold over French Open crown

Carlos Alcaraz will have the chance to win the Olympic tennis title at Roland Garros this year as well as the French Open crown and while he will be gunning for both the Spaniard said if forced to choose he would pick the Paris Games gold.

Carlos Alcaraz Puts Paris Olympic Gold Above French Open Title

Carlos Alcaraz said on Monday if he had to choose between an Olympic gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics or the French Open title he would go for the gold. The 20-year-old who won the US Open in 2022 and Wimbledon in 2023 was asked about his season goals ahead of the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires where he is defending champion. "If I had to choose one target this year I'd choose the Olympic gold over Roland-Garros," the Spaniard said.

Rohan Bopanna Sets Sight On Paris Olympics After Australian Open Triumph

The reigning Australian Open men's doubles champion Rohan Bopanna has set his sight on the Paris Olympics 2024 starting July 26 after winning his maiden men's doubles grand slam. "I think Olympics is very much in the pipeline. It is going to be amazing that we will be having a tennis team participating at Olympics but before that I have a lot of Masters series like Indian Wells, Miami then the clay court season begins. We have the French Open and Wimbledon. So, we have so many events before the Olympics. You know for tennis calendar it is pretty busy. Every week there is a tournament. So, a lot of wonderful things to look forward to and excited for the seaosn coming up," said Rohan Bopanna while speaking to ANI.

Title holders Ireland hammer France in opening Six Nations clash

Jamison Gibson-Park, Tadhg Beirne, Calvin Nash, Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher all crossed for tries as fly-half Jack Crowley converted all five and hit a penalty.