FIH appoints Officials for Tokyo 2020

    September 11, 2019 Lausanne, Switzerland: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) today revealed the list of Officials appointed for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 hockey tournaments. In accordance with the agreed guidelines and processes of FIH, all appointed Officials come from the FIH Pro League panels as these are the top-rated Officials. While performance was the primary selection criteria, the Officials Committee also looked, as a secondary consideration, at the geographic spread of the Officials to ensure that all continents are represented. As a further demonstration of FIH’s “Equally Amazing” policy, the Technical Officials will work across both genders’ matches. Furthermore, while on field Umpires will be the same gender as the match, Video Umpires may be the other gender as has been successfully implemented during the FIH Pro League this year. Technical Delegates Men’s Competition: DECKENBROCK Christian, GER Women’s Competition: STANDLEY Tammy, AUS Umpires Managers de KLERK Marelize, RSA HORGAN Steve, USA SCHELLEKENS Philip, NED WOOLLEY Minka, AUS Technical Officials BENNETT Sarah, ZIM BURT Josh, AUS CATTON Steve, GBR CHAN Alfred, HKG CHEE Lilian, SGP DELLA MATTIA Adrian, ARG FUERST Elisabeth, AUT NAZARET Magda, POL NISHIZAWA Eiichiro, JPN OTI-MENSAH Frank, GHA RICHARDSON Reyah, TTO TOMLINSON Jackie, NZL WARRIS Rogier, NED ZELKIN Rene, USA Umpires – Men’s Panel BLASCH Christian, GER GOENTGEN Benjamin, GER GROCHAL Marcin, POL KEARNS Adam, AUS LIM Hong Zhen, SGP MADDEN Martin, GBR MEJZLIK Jakub, CZE MONTES de OCA German, ARG PRASAD Raghu, IND SHAIKH Javed, IND TAYLOR Simon, NZL TOMLINSON David, NZL van BUNGE Coen, NED WRIGHT Peter, RSA Umpires – Women’s Panel CHURCH Amber, NZL de la FUENTE Carolina, ARG DELFORGE Laurine, BEL GIDDENS Maggie, USA HUDSON Kelly, NZL JOUBERT Michelle, RSA LIU Xiaoying, CHN McCLEAN Ayanna, TTO MEISTER Michelle, GER NEUMANN Aleisha, AUS PRESENQUI Irene, ARG ROSTRON Annelize, RSA WILSON Sarah, GBR YAMADA Emi, JPN Medical Officers GORDON Leigh, RSA NAYAK Bibhu, IND ROLLE Udo, GER The 2020 Olympic hockey tournaments will be staged in Japan’s capital city from 25 July to 7 August next year. #Tokyo2020 #RoadToTokyo #GiftOfHockey

    AfricanHockeyRoadToTokyo: The Title will be decided on the Final Day

      The African Hockey Road to Tokyo 2020 headed into its penultimate day with the destination of the title winners still uncertain. After four days of action though we now know that the title will either be won by SuperGroup South Africa or Ghana in the Women’s tournament while it’s the age-old battle between South Africa and Egypt in the Men’s tournament. The day started with Ghana’s women keeping the tournament alive by defeating the ever-improving Namibians 3-0. They scored a goal in each of the first three quarters to win the game that they were never truly in danger of losing. Elizabeth Opoku in the first, Debora Whyte in the second and Ernestina Coffie in the third meant that the 2017 Runners-Up kept the tournament alive to the final day regardless of the South African result against Kenya. The Namibian and Zimbabwean men played off in a Southern African derby match that could give Zimbabwe a possibility of medalling should they win. With that motivation in check they took the lead through Tony O’Riordan in the 18th minute. The Namibians have been guilty of missing good opportunities in this tournament, but that accusation could not be levelled at them in the 41st minute when South African based star Brynn Cleak restored parity. That parity would not last until the end of the quarter as Gift Chomunorwa made it 2-1 to Zimbabwe. The pair, who could not be split at the FIH Opens Series, were in a similar position this time as Cody van der Merwe got the goal that the performance probably deserved. Egypt were given an almighty scare in their quest to break the South African defence of the trophy as they found themselves trailing to spirited Ghanaians. Enrest Opoku opened the scoring in the first quarter but the West Africans only held that lead for four minutes before Hossam Ghobran levelled matters. The game looked destined to be all square at the end of the third quarter but a 44th minute penalty corner by Mohamed Ragab breaking the deadlock. Egypt only made the game safe with a late penalty corner from Amr Ibrahim, but the 3-1 result meant that Egypt would go into the final day with destiny in their own hands. The SuperGroup South African women never really got higher than second gear in a routine victory against Kenya. The Kenyan women were completing their program of fixtures and were hoping to get a victory to confirm a bronze medal at the minimum. Unfortunately, they will now have to wait and see if Namibia can do them a favour after they were beaten 3-0 by the South Africans. The South Africans scored all three goals in the first half before backing off and consolidating the victory. Tarryn Glasby and Erin Hunter got the opening two before Ongi Mali moved to the top of the goal scorers’ charts with the third. South Africa will know a draw against Ghana will confirm another title for Robin van Ginkel’s side. The South African men produced a less devastating display than they had in the previous games but secured a 4-0 win against a supremely fired up Kenya. It took South Africa 29 minutes to break the deadlock but when they did Austin Smith produced his most venomous flick of the tournament to score his 9th goal of the event. In the second half Smith added his second before a superb combination between Ryan Julius and Dayaan Cassiem allowed the latter to finish with a trademark scoop. The South Africans made it 4-0 with a late Keenan Horne strike but the Kenyans will be immensely proud of their performance. For the South Africans all eyes will be on the Egyptian game to decide title while Kenya will be looking to get their first win over Namibia. All the action is broadcast live on the Shoott South Africa Facebook page. African Hockey Road to Tokyo 2020 Results – 17 August 2019 (W) – Namibia 0-3 Ghana (M) – Zimbabwe 2-2 Namibia (M) – Ghana 1-3 Egypt (W) – Kenya 0-3 South Africa (M) – Kenya 0-4 South Africa African Hockey Road to Tokyo 2020 Fixtures – 18 August 2019 (W) – 09:00 – Zimbabwe vs. Namibia (M) – 11:00 – Zimbabwe vs. Ghana (M) – 13:00 – Kenya vs. Namibia (W) – 15:00 – Ghana vs. South Africa (M) – 17:00 – Egypt vs. South Africa