International Hockey Federation selects Germany and China for 2012 FIH Women’s Champions Trophy
International Hockey Federation (FIH), has completed the list of eight women hockey teams, after the inclusion of Germany and China, that will participate in the next year’s FIH women’s Champions Trophy going to be played in Rosario, Argentina from January
28 to February 5, 2012.
As earlier in the month of July, the FIH Executive Board had conducted a meeting to finalise and review the new layout for the 2012 Champions Trophy and Champions Challenge events, in which the board had decided to, increase the number of Champions Trophy
participating teams from six to eight. Also, the criteria for their selection according to which five teams based on their performance in last year’s Champions Trophy, will automatically be qualified for the 2012 Champions Trophy along with the winner of the
Champions Challenge I as a sixth team in the tournament. While the remaining two teams, the seventh and the eighth, will be selected by the FIH Executive Board.
Before the announcement of the seventh and the eighth side, the other six teams had already been confirmed for next year’s Champions Trophy in Argentina which includes the top five placed teams, Netherlands the winner, Argentina the runner-up, New Zealand
bronze-medallist, Korea and England, in the 2011 Champions Trophy which was held in Amstelveen, Amsterdam along with the winner of the 2011 Champions Challenge I Japan.
“When looking at the alternatives we felt that it was best to go with proven performance over a sustained period of time. It was difficult to choose the final two teams, but I believe that we have a field that will be truly competitive and exciting for the
fans to watch in Argentina,” Leandro Negre, president of FIH stated his views about the nomination of the two remaining teams, Germany and China, for the 2012 FIH Champions Trophy in Rosario, Argentina.
So keeping in mind their decision, the FIH Executive Board has selected the final two teams, Germany and China, to complete the list for the 2012 Champions Trophy in Argentina. The duo selected based on their current FIH world ranking according to which
the German ladies are at the third spot at the ranking table while the Chinese currently are at the fifth spot in the world rankings. Although both the teams, Germany and China, could not directly qualify for the event yet they deserve the place in the list
as the two highest-ranked teams that could not make through automatically.
It will be interesting to see how China and Germany manage to perform in the 2012 Champions Trophy in Argentina against some of the other top teams in field hockey.
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