Toronto, July 24 (IANS): The Canadian men's hockey team has qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics after it entered the final of the ongoing Pan American Games here.

In the semi-final on Thursday, Canada beat Brazil 5-3 via penalty shoot-out after the 60 minutes of play didn't yield any goals.

Argentina won the other semi-final and have already qualified for Rio through the Hockey World League (HWL) Semi-Finals.

With both teams in the final, qualification for Canada is guaranteed either as winner of the Pan Am Games (continental champions) or the next highest ranked placed team from the HWL Semi-Finals should the continental champions already have qualified.

Canada men join the eight teams already qualified for Rio 2016. India as Asian Games champions and Germany, the Netherlands, Argentina, Australia, Belgium and Great Britain through the HWL Semi-Finals are through to next year's sporting showpiece.

Brazil also joined the teams on Wednesday when their place in the semi-final here satisfied the host nation participation criteria established by International Olympic Committee and International Hockey Federation (FIH).