New Delhi: After a series of high-voltage exchanges, India and arch rivals Pakistan will have a fresh round of tussle for hockey supremacy in March next year (2004), having being drawn in the same pool for the Olympic qualifiers to be held in Madrid.

India and Pakistan have been clubbed in the relatively easy Pool B, which has Malaysia, New Zealand, Belgium and Canada as the other teams for the March 2 to13 event.

The Indians, who won the Asia Cup and the Afro-Asian Games titles during the last one month, have a good chance of securing a berth for the Athens Olympics, since three teams from each group will make it to the world's biggest sporting extravaganza.

The draw made by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) as per the latest official rankings will see the Netherlands, England, Spain, Japan, South Africa and Poland vie for top honours from Pool A.

"Our boys are in fine form and are in the right frame of mind for the qualifiers. We have two tournaments coming up before March, which will help them overcome their shortcomings before the qualifiers begins," Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) sources said today (Nov 5).

In all, six teams will qualify from both Pools and they will be playing at Athens along with six continental winners.

However, the Indian women's team, which won two major titles including the Commonwealth Games and the Afro-Asian Games since June last year, was not much fortunate since they will miss the action in the qualifiers in Wellington.

PTI