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With 100 days to go until the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has released the match schedule for the men's and women's hockey events. An intriguing line-up will see some of the biggest names in world hockey clash at the Olympic Hockey Centre in Deodoro Olympic Park.

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The men’s tournament begins with a mouth-watering match on 6 August when the Netherlands, London 2012 silver medallists and reigning European champions, take on Pan-American champions Argentina. Later that day, 2014 Asian Games champions India face off against European bronze medallists Ireland, who will be participating in their first Olympic tournament.

The women’s event will begin in style that same evening, with reigning Hockey World League champions and London 2012 silver medallists Argentina looking to reverse their loss to the USA in the Pan-American Games final.

The stand-out match of the men's group stage will be a repeat of the London 2012 final on 12 August. The Netherlands, currently second in the world rankings, will be out to avenge their defeat to third-ranked Germany. The Germans will also have a point to prove after the Dutch thrashed them 6-1 in the final of the 2015 European Championship.

Men's groups

Pool A
Australia
Great Britain
Belgium
New Zealand
Spain
Brazil

Pool B
Netherlands
Germany
Argentina
India
Ireland
Canada

Women's groups

Pool A
Netherlands
New Zealand
China
Germany
Republic of Korea
Spain

Pool B
Argentina
Australia
Great Britain
USA
Japan
India

The Dutch women's team, London 2012 champions and world no.1, will begin their title defence against Spain on 7 August. Five days later, the Dutch, who also won gold at Beijing 2008, will take on New Zealand in a replay of the dramatic semi-final at London 2012, when the Netherlands triumphed in the first shoot-out in Olympic hockey history.

An eye-catching women’s match will take place on 11 August. Argentina, silver at London 2012 and world no.2, will clash with triple Olympic champions and number three ranked Australia. The next day, China will be looking to reverse their 2014 Asian Games loss to rivals the Republic of Korea.

Video: the Rio 2016 hockey match schedule:

The men’s schedule includes a rerun of last year’s Hockey World League Final between Australia and Belgium on 9 August. Reigning World Cup and World League champions Australia, currently top of the rankings, will be hoping at the very least to finish amongst the Olympic medals having won bronze at London 2012.

As well as the traditional hockey powerhouses, Rio 2016 will be welcoming new faces to the competition. Home nation Brazil, like Ireland competing for the first time in the Olympic Games, get their campaign underway in the men's competition against Spain on 6 August.

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Matheus Borges (10) is mobbed after scoring Brazil's winner in the final of the test event (Photo: Rio 2016/Alexandre Loureiro)

At Rio 2016, the same competition format will apply to the women's and men's events. In the preliminary stage 12 teams are divided into two pools of six teams. Each team plays every other team in its pool. The top four teams in each pool proceed to the quarter finals.

This is the first time in an Olympic hockey competition that quarter-finals will be played; in recent tournaments the top four teams progressed straight to the semi-final stage. In Rio, the men's final and the bronze medal match will take place on 18 August, with the women's medal matches on the following day.

Australia and Argentina are hoping to avoid a third successive Dutch gold medal (Photo:Getty Images/Quinn Rooney)

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