Indian teams to compete during International Hockey festival

India's men's hockey team will compete in a four-nation event while the women's national team will be involved in a bilateral series with Australia under an International Hockey festival in Melbourne later this year.

The men's tournament, to be held in November, will feature India, hosts Australia, Malaysia and a fourth team to be confirmed later.

"India's participation in the event comes as a result of Hockey India's path-breaking Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hockey Australia, signed last year, which will see the Indian men s national team tour to Australia over the next three years," a Hockey India release said.

"Australia is a great place to play hockey. The hosts and Malaysia are always a formidable opponent, so it should be a very challenging tournament, and a good experience for the team and I am looking forward to the international Hockey festival this year," India's captain Sardar Singh said.

Chief Coach Roelant Oltmans said,"It will come in as a treat for all hockey fans globally, I am sure it is going to be a top notch tournament with some spectacular hockey on display by all the participating nations."

Alongside the men's competition, Australia and India's women will play a three-match Test series.