International Hockey Federation on Friday has announced the inclusion of Pakistan and South Korea in the Champions Trophy coming up next year November-December
which will feature eight teams instead of six this time.
The FIH said the two Asian nations will join world champions Australia, England, Germany, Netherlands,Spain and the host team India, in the annual tournament.
South Korea are ranked sixth in the world, while Pakistan recently won the Asian Games gold medal in Guangzhou, China,which has also earned them a direct entry to the 2012 London Olympics.
FIH also made it clear that the date and host city of Champions Trophy will be announced later.Before this, Champions Trophy has been a six nation event since
its start in 1978 but this time it has decided to include two more teams.
FIH has announced that the Women’s Champions Trophy will also include eight teams as China and New Zealand will join Argentina, Germany, England, Australia,
South Korea and the host nation, Netherlands.
Earlier, Pakistan participated in Champions Trophy in 2007.
Pakistan has been named in the Champions Trophy after a long break of three years while India being the host, received the advantage of entry in the event.
President of Pakistan Hockey Federation said that the arrangement of the event in India makes no difference for the Pakistani team. Our team should have the
confidence to play under pressure.
Chief Selector Hanif Khan said that the efforts of Qasim zia and Asif have made Pakistani hockey come back to this event. Hanif Khan also added that the national
team is in good spirits and is looking forward to the event. PHF Secretary Asif Bajwa said that Pakistan is grateful to FIH for their inclusion. Former Olympian Danish Kaleem also
said that it’s an honour for Pakistani team to become part of the Champions Trophy next year.
Training session of the Pakistani team will start from January 8 th and will continue upto January, 29.
President of the world body; Leandro Negre, said that the eight teams taking part in the event will be divided into two groups of four. Two cities in Punjab
will host each of the groups. The top two teams from each group will be associated together for a final round-robin league in New Delhi.
He further said that were not looking at increasing the number of days or matches at this point in time. On the other hand, a round-robin league of eight teams
would mean 28 matches in the first phase, which are 10 more than what the six-team format offers.
The men's Champions Challenge will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, one week before the men's Champions Trophy. The dates will be announced in due course.
The participants of the event include: Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Poland.
The men's Champions Challenge II will be hosted by Lille from July 3 to 9, with Austria, China, Czech Republic, Ireland, Russia, Scotland, USA and the host nation
France participating in the tournament.
On the other hand the women’s Champions Challenge I, which will include Azerbaijan, India, Japan, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, USA and the hosts Ireland, will
be held in Dublin from June 18 to 26.
Austria will host women’s Champion Challenge II which will be its first world level outdoor hockey tournament. The tournament will be held from May 7 to 15,
and will include Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Italy, Malaysia and Russia.
Tags: