The nitty-gritty of the Olympics’ qualification round

India have already made it courtesy their Asian Games win, while Pakistan linger

KARACHI: The semi-final round of the World Hockey League, which also serves as the qualifying round for the 2016 Rio Olympics, is all set to start in June as the final line-up of teams has been completed.

Termed the ‘Road to Rio’, the tournament will feature 20 teams competing in two different events for the final seven berths of the final, which will be played from November 28 to December 6 in Mohali, India.

Eleven teams ranked from first to 11th in the current FIH World Rankings — including Pakistan — automatically qualified for the semi-final round. Meanwhile, the remaining nine teams — Malaysia, Poland, Japan, Ireland, Austria, Canada, France, China and Egypt — qualified from the recently concluded World Hockey League’s second round.

The 20 teams have been divided into two groups evenly, and the first one will play at Buenos Aires, Argentina, from June 3 to 14. The Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Germany, Argentina, Spain, China, Ireland, Poland and Egypt make up the group.

The second group, which will play at Braaschaat, Belgium from June 20 to July 5, comprises of Pakistan, India, Australia, Great Britain, Belgium, Malaysia, France, Austria, Canada and Japan.

Both groups will be divided into two pools each. Pakistan, currently ranked 10th in the world, are placed in Pool A with top-ranked Australia, ninth-ranked India, 18^th-ranked France and 22^nd-ranked Austria.

Pool B contains fourth-ranked England, fifth-ranked Belgium, 12^th-ranked Malaysia, 14^th-ranked Canada and 16^th-ranked Japan.

Three top teams from each group — apart from India, who have already qualified courtesy of their Asian Games win — will finally go for the Olympics.

Pakistan will have to go through a tough qualification round as their opponents are in practice and have been touring different countries for matches, while the Greenshirts just started their training camp on Monday and have not played any bilateral series since 2011, taking part only in tournaments.

According to head coach Shahnaz Sheikh, the players would have to practice day and night if they want to book their berth at the Olympics. “We already missed the World Cup last year for the first time in history, we can’t let that happen with the Olympics,” said Sheikh.

 

 

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