India to host two important FIH events

Lausanne, March 6 (IANS) The International Hockey Federation (FIH) Tuesday awarded India the hosting rights of the men’s Junior World Cup and the World League Finals.

The Junior World Cup will be held Dec 6-15 and it will be followed by the World League Finals Jan 10-18.

The Hero Hockey Junior World Cup is held once every four years and will feature the top 16 men’s junior teams battling for the supreme title.

Meanwhile, the Hero Hockey World League Finals is the culmination of a two-year odyssey for the Hockey World League that has seen more than 60 men’s national teams play through four rounds of competition for the ultimate prize of becoming the inaugural Hockey World League Champion.

“I can think of no better venue for our inaugural Hockey World League final tournament than India,” said FIH President Leandro Negre.

“With this event we are bringing the future of hockey to a country that has one of the richest traditions in our sport. It is sure to be an action packed tournament.”

Negre continued: “The Junior World Cup is one of the gems in our event calendar. We get the see the future of hockey on display. When looking through past athletes that have competed in the Junior World Cup, it reads as a who’s who in international hockey.”

The full line-up of teams for both events will be known once all of the qualification tournaments are completed.

For the Hero Hockey World League Finals, the teams will be known following the Hockey World League Semi-Final tournaments in the Netherlands and Malaysia this June.

For the Hero Hockey Junior World Cup, the last of the 16 teams was named when Australia won the Junior Oceania Cup. Confirmed in the field are: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Spain, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa.

IANS 2013-03-06 19:40:05