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South Africa to host inaugural Men’s Nations Cup

22 June 2022 Lausanne, Switzerland: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has appointed South Africa as the host country for the inaugural FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup. The event will take place at the North-West University of Potchefstroom – which successfully hosted the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup in April this year – from 28 November to 4 December 2022. The aim of this new yearly event is to offer a top-level competition to the best-ranked teams not participating in the FIH Hockey Pro League and give the winning team the option to be promoted to the FIH Hockey Pro League the next season, precisely. Therefore, the FIH Hockey Nations Cup marks the start of the promotion-relegation principle for the FIH Hockey Pro League, with the winning team of the first FIH Hockey Nations Cup having the chance to be promoted to the 2023-24 FIH Hockey Pro League (provided they meet the necessary requirements for it). The following eight teams – which include some of the powerhouses of world hockey! – will participate in the very first edition, having qualified based on their position in the FIH World Rankings of May 2021: South Africa, France, Canada, Japan, Korea, Ireland, Pakistan and Malaysia. FIH CEO Thierry Weil said: “On behalf of FIH, I’d like to thank wholeheartedly the South African Hockey Association for hosting this inaugural edition of the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup. Everyone could see how successful the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup – the first FIH World Cup to be staged on African soil – was, and we’re delighted to go back to Potchefstroom soon! With the Nations Cup, not only a true hockey festival awaits all hockey fans, but there’s a lot a stake for the teams, including a place within the FIH Hockey Pro League!” Shaune Baaitjies, Acting CEO of SA Hockey: “South Africa showed our capacity as a world class host with the hosting of the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup in Potchefstroom earlier this year. The North West University facilities were outstanding and received wonderful reviews from all involved. We are delighted that the FIH has chosen to host the FIH Hockey Nations Cup in Potchefstroom. The South African Men enjoyed playing the home series of games in the FIH Hockey Pro League at the venue and look forward to adding more remarkable memories for the international hockey family. It promises to be a wonderful tournament at a wonderful venue!” The inaugural FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup will be held in Valencia, Spain, from 11 to 17 December this year. For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please visit FIH.hockey, follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and download the Watch.Hockey app. #FIHNationsCup #HockeyEquals #HockeyInvites For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please consult FIH.hockey, follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and download the Watch.Hockey app.

FIH CEO Thierry Weil: “Hockey5s is a great lever to grow hockey”

7 June 2022 Lausanne, Switzerland: In an exclusive interview with FIH.hockey, FIH CEO Thierry Weil reflects on the Hero FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022 which took place in the Olympic Capital on 4 and 5 June. Thierry, what do you keep in mind from this first Hero FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022? What I particularly enjoyed was the fact that people having a walk at the Place de la Navigation around the lake in Lausanne, stopped, looked at what was going on and eventually decided to move into the stadium and watch the games! This was exactly the purpose of this event: bringing hockey to people. Then of course the huge enthusiasm of the players to play this format – for some of them for the first time – as well as the intensity of the matches were a blessing. India men – considered as pre-tournament favourites – won. But for the women, the winners were Uruguay, therefore confirming that Hockey5s enables nations who are not necessarily regarded as powerhouses of world hockey to excel. How do you look at this? Here again, this is fantastic since one of the main reasons why FIH has decided to boost the promotion of Hockey5s is precisely because this format enables some smaller nations to play at the same level as the traditionally bigger ones and even beat them! Extrapolating from this, it means that numerous nations in the world could start hockey with Hockey5s, which it’s simpler and cheaper to put in place. Speaking of India, what do you think of the current situation with Hockey India? It’s 100% clear that every National Association has to make sure that its Statutes are compliant with the sports code of the local authorities. Therefore, if this is not the case for Hockey India at the moment, then this has to happen. However, this situation does not affect FIH’s full trust in Hockey India. Indeed, Hockey India has been and continues to be a key actor of the development of our sport, not only in the country, but also for the world, as an outstanding organiser of numerous FIH events. How can Hockey5s support the overall growth of hockey? Hockey5s is a great lever to boost the growth of hockey at the global level. Thanks to its less restrictive infrastructure – smaller field – but also to the required number of players, the practice of Hockey5s can be a real development asset for many nations in the world. Developing the sport is the number 1 mission of any international federation. The same goes for FIH. This is why, among other things, the FIH has decided to create a Hockey5s World Cup (first edition in 2024). In addition, the size of the field also makes it possible to anchor the Hockey5s in the heart of cities, giving it an urban dimension that is very fashionable and attractive, especially among young people. Finally, Hockey5s is an excellent springboard, a “gateway”, to 11-a-side hockey. #Hockey5s #HockeyEquals #HockeyInvites For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please consult FIH.hockey, follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and download the Watch.Hockey app.

Ghana qualifies for 2022 Commonwealth Games

Ghana female and male teams qualifies for the next 2022 Commonwealth games in England, Birmingham City. The women gain a second qualification while the men will have their first appearance in this event. The women just won silver at the just ended African Hockey Cup of Nations whilst the men made fifth place. The tournament is scheduled for 28th July to 8th August 2022. Source: ghanahockey.org

South Africa’s World Cup adventures underway after success in Accra

23 January 2022 Lausanne, Switzerland: The Africa Cup of Nations saw a week of exciting hockey action culminate in a double victory for South Africa, giving the top ranked teams in both the men’s and women’s competition automatic qualification for the respective FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar and Rourkela and the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup, Spain and Netherlands 2022. The seven days of action took place at the Theodosia Okoh Stadium in Accra, Ghana, with seven men’s and eight women’s teams competing for the continental crown as well as a coveted qualification spot at the FIH blue riband events. Although South Africa men’s and women’s hockey teams continue their dominance at this event, both finals were tough contests. The women went behind to a well-organised and hard-working Ghana team before rallying and winning 3-1. The men were held to a 1-1 scoreline by a resilient and skilful Egypt, but held their nerve to win the shoot-out by a 3-1 scoreline. In the women’s final, the host nation was hoping that home advantage would serve the players well as they faced South Africa in the final. This was the fifth consecutive final in which the two teams had faced each other, with South Africa emerging the victor on each of the previous occasions. Both teams had shown good form going into the final: South Africa were unbeaten and had conceded no goals to that point. Ghana had drawn with Nigeria and won their other two matches with ease. An early goal from Elizabeth Opoku – following the award of a penalty stroke against South Africa – gave Ghana the lead in the sixth minute. The noise levels among the spectators rose as they sensed the opportunity for an upset. However, South Africa responded well and were 2-1 ahead at half-time, courtesy of goals from Charne Maddocks and Kristen Paton. The match was put beyond doubt in the final quarter when Lillian du Plessis scored a penalty stroke to give her side a 3-1 lead. Tarryn Glasby of South Africa was the competition’s overall top scorer with nine goals. Speaking after the match, she said: ‘It is nice to get a win in Ghana. As a striker you are supposed to score goals, so I am happy to be the top scorer. Looking forward to the World Cup, it is all about trusting our processes.’ The captain of Ghana women, Nafisatu Umara, said: ’We are impressed with our performance. We took the lead in the first quarter, which shows how much we have really improved. We now have the courage to carry the ball, so we are happy with our performance. The last time we played South Africa we lost 6-0, so this was a big improvement. We will look at what happened today, we will do our homework and next time we will beat them.’ South Africa’s Head Coach Inky Zondy said: ‘I am really excited and really happy with the game. It was a tough game, so thank you to Ghana. We have really enjoyed our week here. We are a team that has changed, so we have to learn from what has happened this week and represent Africa well at the World Cup.’ In the men’s final, it was a repeat of the previous five editions, with reigning champions South Africa facing Egypt. Any hope Egypt had of hitting South Africa hard in the early stages was dashed when Matt Guise-Brown stepped up to fire home a penalty corner in the 12th minute. South Africa looked comfortably in control of the game for much of the first half but they failed to capitalise on a number of chances. With seven minutes of the half remaining, Egypt’s Ziad Adel took the opportunity to even the scores with a well-taken goal that eluded Siyavuya Nolutshungu in the South African goal. The teams continued to probe and seek a breakthrough throughout the third quarter but neither team could find the goal. With 15 minutes left, South Africa turned up the pressure a notch. An early penalty corner attempt flew wide and a devastating run from Nqobile Ntuli ended with a tame shot. Egypt continued to dig deep defensively and the team’s resilience paid off as the final whistle blew and the match went to shoot-out for the first time since 2005 [when South Africa beat Egypt 3-2 on penalty strokes]. Clinical finishing by the South African attackers and some great goalkeeping by Nolutshungu saw the higher ranked team finally break down their Egyptian rivals as South Africa won the shoot-out 3-1. Speaking after the match, South Africa’s Head Coach Gareth Ewing said: ’I’m shattered. That was too close for comfort. Ghana is such a great host, there was such a great atmosphere in the stadium, it was great to win. Based on tonight’s performance, we have a lot to do before the World Cup.’ Captain of South Africa, Tim Drummond said: ’We are ecstatic. That was tough but we are missing some players so that shows that we have depth in the squad. There is a long way to go before the World Cup but we hope to make a lot of improvement and finish in the top ten.’ Egypt’s Head Coach Zaman Tahir, said: ‘That was heartbreaking for all the boys. South Africa’s experience to handle this sort of pressure is huge. Shoot-out is down to nerves and South Africa had an advantage. Losing on shoot-out – it could have been any one’s game.’ South Africa’s penalty corner specialist Matthew Guise-Brown was top goalscorer with six goals. Earlier in the day, Kenya women had taken third place after they beat Zimbabwe in a tense match that had finished goalless at full time. Kenya’s goal keeper Milicent Adhiambo performed heroics to keep the Zimbabwe attackers at bay and the Kenyan team were able to finished one place higher than their previous fourth place in 2017. In the men’s match to decide third place, Nigeria put in an energetic

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ACN 2022 | South Africa seal top spot of Pool A in Kenya victory

With both South Africa and Kenya having already qualified from Pool A for the Semi-Finals following respective victories against Namibia. The two sides have played some classic matches over the years, none more than the 2-1 victory for South Africa at the 2015 Greenfields African Championships. Both teams were keen to secure top spot and the favourable draw in the Semi-Finals. For South Africa the match marked goalkeepers 50th cap for the country. Kenya started the game a little bit faster than the South Africans and won an early penalty corner. What would become a theme of the game on an inconsistent turf was the opportunity was lost. But it hardly mattered, and Kenya created another chance from the resultant play which Festus Onyango should have done better with. South Africa then created arguably the finest opportunity of the opening interchanges when a ball fell to Keenan Horne. The opportunity looked like a replica of his opportunity against Germany at the Tokyo Olympics, but it was well saved by Shidogo in the Kenyan goal. A brilliant defensive block denied Brad Sherwood his third international goal after a scintillating run by the South African co vice-captain Bili Ntuli. South Africa and Kenya were awarded a number of penalty corners, but the titanic chess match played out as a goalless first half, much like a match between two teams already qualified for the semi-finals. The second half saw South Africa take the lead, which was probably deserved on the balance of play. Keenan Horne called for a quick ball from the sideline that caught the Kenyan defenders napping and a selfless ball to Bili Ntuli left the striker a simple job of tapping in. Ntuli and Spooner, a combination that works well for Harvestehuder in Germany, worked again for the South Africans as Spooner fired in a pinpoint cross and Ntuli was on hand to steer it home to give the South Africans a 2-0 lead. With the number of penalty corners being given away, it felt like one would eventually go in for one of the teams. And to the disappointment of the South Africans, it was the Kenyans who scored it. Captain Constance Wankgura fired it past Siya Nolutshungu to set up a grandstand finish. But rather than ending in a storm the game petered out with errors more telling than moments of brilliance. As a result, South Africa will now watch the action tomorrow to find out who they take on in the Semi-Finals on Saturday, while a date with Egypt is looming for the Kenyan Men. Tim Drummond, captain of South Africa. “Its always a physical game against Kenya. They are fit and a good team. We pride ourselves on our defence we will look at the video afterwards and see the areas that we need to improve. We always want to score goals and we will see different things we can do in the Semi-Final on Saturday.’