The London Olympic Organizing Committee, together with the International Hockey Federation, unveiled the London 2012 Olympic Hockey competition schedule overnight.

The first match will see Australia’s women take on neighbour New Zealand, who they recently played in two Four Nations Series' that ended at one apiece. The Australian women, ranked seventh in the world, have world number two Argentina and world number three Germany in their pool. They travel to Europe to play Germany next month which will be a good test of form.

In the men’s competition, the Australians open their campaign against South Africa and later play Great Britain in a blockbuster clash.

After winning bronze at the Beijing Olympics the world number one kookaburras are the team to beat. However they were beaten twice by Germany at the London Test Event this year. The two nations are the top seeds in their respective pools.

“The Riverbank Arena is set to stage exciting world-class sport during the Olympic Games," London 2012 Director of Sport, Debbie Jevans said.

"The International Invitational Hockey Tournament helped us test the venue and we will continue to work with the International Hockey Federation to fine-tune our plans before the first Olympic match takes place on the distinctive blue and pink pitches.”

Based on world rankings, the 12 teams in both tournaments are divided into two pools of six, and each team plays every other in their pool. The top two teams in each pool qualify for the semi-finals, with the winners then going head-to-head for the Gold medal. The other teams in the two groups play each other to determine final placings.

Men's draw:
Monday 30 July AUS vs South Africa
Wednesday 1 August AUS vs Spain
Friday 3 August AUS vs Argentina
Sunday 5 August AUS vs Great Britain
Tuesday 7 August AUS vs Pakistan

Women's draw:
Sunday 29 July AUS vs New Zealand
Tuesday 31 July AUS vs Germany
Thursday 2 August AUS vs USA
Sunday 4 August AUS vs South Africa
Monday 6 August AUS vs Argentina

Women: Pool A
Netherlands (FIH world ranking – 1)
Great Britain (FIH world ranking – 4)
China (FIH world ranking – 5)
Korea (FIH world ranking – 8)
Japan (FIH world ranking – 9)
Belgium (FIH world ranking – 16)

Women: Pool B
Argentina (FIH world ranking – 2)
Germany (FIH world ranking – 3)
New Zealand (FIH world ranking – 6)
Australia (FIH world ranking – 7)
United States of America (FIH world ranking – 10)
South Africa (FIH world ranking – 12)

Men: Pool A
Australia (FIH world ranking – 1)
Great Britain (FIH world ranking – 4)
Spain (FIH world ranking – 5)
Pakistan (FIH world ranking – 8)
Argentina (FIH world ranking – 9)
South Africa (FIH world ranking – 12)

Men: Pool B
Germany (FIH world ranking – 2)
Netherlands (FIH world ranking – 3)
Korea (FIH world ranking – 6)
New Zealand (FIH world ranking – 7)
India (FIH world ranking – 10)
Belgium (FIH world ranking – 11)

The first game at the Riverbank Arena takes place on Sunday 29 July, with the first semi-finals taking place on Wednesday 8 August for the women and Thursday 9 August for the men.  The women’s final is on Friday 10 August and the men’s on Saturday 11 August.

FIH and AOC