31 March 2022 As we build up towards the FIH Women’s Junior World Cup, which springs into action on 1 April in Potchefstroom, South Africa, here is a preview of the teams that comprise Pool B. Pool B: England, Ireland, South Africa Lausanne, Switzerland: Since it was finally not possible for Ukraine to reach South Africa and play this FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup, Pool B will involve three teams only, namely the hosts, South Africa, as well as England and Ireland. Nevertheless, Ukraine will for sure be even more in everyone’s thoughts as the event starts. Ukraine should even have played the opening match against Ireland … Now, the curtain raiser will see England facing the host nation South Africa, with both teams looking to get a good result from which to start their campaign. For South Africa, this will be an emotional experience. Indeed, this is the first time that a FIH Hockey World Cup has taken place on African soil and, after the disruptions of the past few months, including a postponement of the event, to finally step out on the pitch will provide an even higher level of motivation for the team in green. Christa Ramasimong of the South Africa national team says: ‘Playing on home turf just gives you an extra boost because you know that you’re actually playing for more and people at home are looking at you. I feel that in South Africa, a lot of people don’t know much about hockey, but this is going to be a new introduction into South Africa, a new culture in our sports.’ England’s squad is relatively new with many players recently moving to the senior team, so this is a chance for players such as scoring sensation Maddie Axford and goalkeeper Mila Welch to shine. England has never finished in the medals at the Junior World Cup, the highest finish was fourth in 2013. But as England’s captain Millie Giglio says: ‘We are out to do our best in every single game but if we come out with a medal that will be great. We have a great side, with a lot of potential so a medal is always on the table.’ For Ireland, it will be a first appearance at this competition. The Junior Green Army was invited after other teams, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Belgium and Spain withdrew due to ongoing pandemic circumstances. Ireland’s Christina Hamill says the team in green have been motivated by the performance of their senior women at the 2018 World Cup, when they won silver against all the odds. “I think it’s a privilege to be involved and to get to play in such a high-end tournament. Hopefully we’ll come back with a medal around our neck”, she added. For the complete FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup schedule, click here. #RisingStars #JWC2021 #HockeyEquals For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website.

31 March 2022 Lausanne, Switzerland: Following its most thorough and extensive review to date, the website of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) is now available in a greatly modernised version combining more engaging content and a more appealing look and feel. Simultaneously, FIH has taken this opportunity to change the name of its website, moving away from FIH.ch to become FIH.hockey, in better adequation with its global nature. The website review includes two phases. The key improvements of the first one are related to events, news, videos, data, mobile consumption and a more user-friendly platform: A centralized hub for “everything hockey”: A strong focus on events All international match scores updated LIVE Dedicated event sites for all live and upcoming international events (including non-FIH events) with all event-related information and fan-engaging content Dedicated event sites for all event archives since 2013 (including non-FIH events) and all event archives for major FIH events and Olympics A dedicated section for all latest and archived news (since 2005), with news articles now presented alongside videos, social media posts, etc A video section fully integrated with the FIH YouTube channel: all YouTube videos are now available on the website; and in order to ease the navigation, a tagging and playlist creation feature will be added soon A series of further improvements will be brought in the near future, such as a substantial increase of data and stats, a redesigned interface for the FIH World Rankings, player and team profiles, etc A complete access to hockey data, thanks to the full integration of the FIH Tournament Management System A more user-friendly website, fast and responsive A more modern and clearer look and feel A website optimized for mobile (noting that, currently, mobile accounts for roughly 70% of the overall FIH website consumption) The second phase of the review will be developed in the coming months and focus on the remaining sections of the website, such as “About FIH” or “Grow Hockey”. FIH CEO Thierry Weil said: “In addition to the expansion of our social media handles, the growth of the Watch.Hockey app or the launch of an NFT marketplace – just to name a few – the complete review of our website will add on to the ongoing transformation of our digital ecosystem. This will contribute substantially to our mission of better engaging with and serving the global hockey community – the 30 million hockey players and all the fans, in particular.” In the near future, FIH.hockey will also serve as a gateway for further engagement tools, including gaming, NFTs and an e-shop. #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.

29 March 2022 Lausanne, Switzerland: As we build up towards the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup, which springs into action on 1 April in Potchefstroom, South Africa, here is a preview of the teams that comprise Pool A. Pool A: Canada, Netherlands, United States and Zimbabwe As runners-up at the Junior EuroHockey Championships (beaten by Spain on shoot-out), and the team with the highest number of wins at this tournament (3), Netherlands will be the team to beat in this pool. Head Coach Dave Smolenaars will have a host of players at his disposal who have been part of a national structure that produces wave after wave of quality hockey players. The Netherlands open their account with a match against USA on the first day of competition. The most intriguing meet-up in this pool will be the Pan Am clash between USA and Canada. The Canadians will be full of confidence after they won the Junior Pan Am Championship for the first time in their history. USA have been very much in a rebuilding stage so it will be interesting to see how the players respond to this challenge. USA Head Coach Tracey Paul will be looking for the experience of players such as Hope Rose and Charlotte de Vries to lead her team through to the knock-out stages. USA’s highest ever finish in their eight previous appearances was seventh in 2013. Canada’s last appearance was in 2013, when they finished 14th. Like USA, the Canadian team’s previous best was a seventh place in 1989. For Canada, nine of the team that won the Junior Pan Am Cup will be making the trip to South Africa. Head Coach Jenn Beagan is delighted at the prospect of both the junior and senior Canada teams competing in World Cups this year, saying: ‘This is an exciting time and I have no doubt the athletes will rise to the occasion.’ Zimbabwe are a country that has been really focused on developing their national teams in the past few years, and they could spring a surprise on their more experienced opponents. Their previous three appearances have seen the African team finish in last place, but, with the event taking place on African soil for the first time, they will be aiming much higher this time around. Mutsa Bera, the Zimbabwe captain said: ‘We are going to learn a lot from playing at such a big event. It is about taking up the challenge, just going in there and putting up a fight. ‘It is such a big thing to be able to go out there and make a mark for Zimbabwe hockey and show how ready we are to do this.’ Zimbabwe face Canada in their opening Pool A match on 1 April. #RisingStars #JWC2021 For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website.

25 March 2022 Lausanne, Switzerland: With just a few days to go before the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup South Africa 2021 springs into action in Potchefstroom the squads for the participating nations are now known. For all the squad lists, please click here. Among the athletes from the 16 teams are Olympians, Olympic medallists and players that have already seen top class action through the FIH Hockey Pro League. This is also the stage upon which new stars are revealed to hockey fans. It was back in 1997 that an unknown junior called Luciana Aymar led Argentina to a Junior World Cup bronze medal – we all know how that story unfolded. Today’s crop of Las Leoncitas will be hoping to retain the gold medal that the 2016 squad won in Santiago, Chile. For teams such as Netherlands, Germany and Korea, the Women’s Junior World Cup has been a traditional hunting ground for medals. Those three teams between them have won 12 medals, and all three will want to be adding to their tallies. For Germany, players such as Pauline Heinz and Jette Fleschütz will be bringing a huge amount of experience of top flight hockey, having already experienced Olympic and FIH Hockey Pro League action. In addition, the German U21 squad played two senior FIH Hockey Pro League matches against India, gaining a wealth of experience the process. Also on the hunt for medals will be the India women’s side. Having observed the rapid rise of their women’s senior team through the rankings, and the adulation to which the squad returned on the back of an Olympic fourth place finish, the India team will want to take advantage of the momentum surrounding women’s hockey in the country right now. At the other end of the experience continuum are teams such as Ireland and Uruguay who will be experiencing their first ever foray into Women’s Junior World Cup territory. Ireland’s athletes are already bringing a sense of joy to the show, with their revelation that the team managers included pool-based flamingo racing as part of their early morning warm-up routines. And then there is the emotion that will be so very present at this event. For South Africa, this is the momentous occasion when they hold the continent’s first ever FIH World Cup event. For Canada, this is the place where they were caught in limbo for a while in December as a result of pandemic movement restrictions – they will be looking for a happy return to Potchefstroom. And, of course, there is the potential presence of Ukraine. When, and if, the blue and yellow clad team line up for the opening match of the tournament against Ireland, there is unlikely to be a dry eye at the pitch. The media kit of the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup is available here. For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website.

9 March 2022 Following the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) confirmation last week of the teams taking part in the competition, Birmingham 2022 has unveiled the full match schedule for the men’s and women’s tournaments. Both the women’s and the men’s competitions will begin on Friday 29 July, with the opening session of the women’s tournament featuring reigning champions New Zealand against Kenya and South Africa playing Scotland. Hosts, England, will face Ghana in the first match of the men’s competition with New Zealand facing Scotland in the same session. Please see the full media release from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games here. For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website. #Birmingham2022 #HockeyInvites