The 34th Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy at Melbourne from Dec 1-9, 2012

The 2012 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy will be the 34th edition of the Hockey Champions Trophy for men. The tournament will be held in Australia from December 1–9, 2012. On May 8, 2012, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced that Melbourne is the host city with State Netball and Hockey Centre as the venue of tournament. 

India vs Pakistan
When the top-seeded Indians square off against the fourth-seeded Belgians, it is truly anyone’s guess what will happen. This is Belgium’s first Champions Trophy appearance in the small nation’s history, and they are still looking for their first point at this level after going 0-3 in the preliminary round. India had a spectacular preliminary round, but also has limited recent experience at the Champions Trophy with their last appearance at the event coming in 2005. The history books are no help in predicting the winner of this one, so our tip is to simply hold on to your hats and enjoy the ride.
Much like the first match of the day, this meeting between two hockey giants is steeped in tradition. The sides have met an epic 23 times, with host Australia holding the clear advantage with 16 wins, 7 draws and zero losses (includes Great Britain results as well). Yes, that’s right, never have the Aussies lost against England and add to the lopsided record the fact that Australia has out-scored England nearly two to one in those meetings (61-30). But there is hope for the northern nation, England had also never won against Germany prior to this edition of the Champions Trophy and managed to put that streak to an end with a win on Sunday. Clearly the young English squad is unfazed by previous results and Thursday could be England’s chance to at last get the elusive victory against the Aussies, despite history being in the hosts’ favour.
The 2012 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy Tournament will be held from 1-9 December 2012 at the State Netball Hockey Centre, Melbourne. Hosting the top four-ranked teams in the world and four highly regarded invitational teams.

Countries taking part in the Hockey Champions Trophy include Australia, Belgium, England, India, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Pakistan It will be the third major hockey tournament for Australia's sporting capital since the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games and the 2009 Men’s Champions Trophy.

As the first major international men’s event after the London Olympics, the Hockey Champions Trophy will provide spectators the opportunity to watch the best teams in the world compete including London Olympic gold medalists Germany.

Teams which finished first to fifth in the 2011 edition and the winner of 2011 Champions Challenge I are granted participation for the tournament. The remaining two places were decided by the FIH Executive Board, with one already given to India. Though Spain finished second in the 2011 edition, they were not qualified for 2012.

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