July 20, 2017 Johannesburg, South Africa: Germany and USA will contest the women’s final of the Hockey World League Semi-Final event after both nations overcame the respective challenges of Argentina and England on Day 13 at the University of the Witwatersrand. Germany produced a battling performance to triumph 2-1 over Argentina, with Charlotte Stapenhorst scoring the decisive goal as Die Danas claimed their place in the showpiece match. USA and England needed a shoot-out to separate them, with American goalkeeper Jackie Briggs proving the hero with a string of outstanding saves to set up their final meeting with Germany. The women’s competition final will take place on Sunday 23 July at 15:30 South African Standard Time (UTC +2), while Argentina and England will go head-to-head in the 3-4 classification match on the same day at 11:00. It was also a day of celebration for Japan and South Africa, who confirmed direct qualification for the Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018. Japan defeated India 2-0 to book their ticket to London before hosts South Africa thrilled the home fans with a 3-0 triumph over Ireland to book their ticket to London. It was confirmed that the top six from this event would achieve World Cup qualification earlier this week, when England – the hosts of next year’s global showpiece – guaranteed a top five finish by winning their quarter-final. It meant that the highest ranked sixth place finisher from the two Hockey World League Semi-Final events in Belgium and Johannesburg would be guaranteed a World Cup berth. All four of the teams that reached the 5-8 play-off matches are placed higher in in the FIH Hero World Rankings than Italy, the team that finished sixth in Brussels, guaranteeing that the top six from South Africa would all be assured of a World Cup place. The first of the event semi-finals was packed full of intense action and high drama, with Germany (WR: 7) providing a shock result against an Argentina (WR: 3) side that have been one of the most impressive performers here in Johannesburg. Die Danas were the quickest out of the blocks, taking the lead just seven minutes into the contest when Naomi Heyn converted a slick penalty corner routine. Las Leonas hit back at the start of the second quarter thanks Lucina von der Heyde’s brilliant penalty corner deflection, but Germany scored what proved to be the winner on the stroke of half time with composed close range finish from the excellent Charlotte Stapenhorst. Janne Müller-Wieland made her 250th senior international appearance for Germany, with the victory ensuring it was a truly memorable day. “It is always nice to score, but it is for the team so it doesn’t matter who scores”, said Charlotte Stapenhorst after the match, before discussing which team she would prefer to meet in the competition final. “To be honest I don’t really care. We just want to win this thing now but we have history with England, so maybe it should be them who we meet in the final.” Stapenhorst’s desire to meet England (WR: 2) in the competition final did not materialise, as USA (WR: 6) battled back from a goal down to force a shoot-out in which goalkeeper Jackie Briggs excelled. Hannah Martin gave England the lead a minute into the second quarter, finishing off a slick passing move involving Susannah Townsend and Sophie Bray, the latter of which was making her 100th senior international appearance. USA dominated the third and fourth quarter before getting that all important goal through Jill Witmer with three minutes remaining. The shoot-out was dominated by two outstanding goalkeepers, with England’s Maddie Hinch and USA’s Briggs both only being beaten once before it went to sudden death. The winning goal came from the stick of Melissa Gonzalez – the only player to score past Hinch in the first barrage – firing into the roof of the net following another crucial save from Briggs. “I feel blessed that Jackie is in our team, I cannot say enough good things about her”, said Gonzalez after the match. “England are a great team full of world class players, so it was a big result for us.” The 5-8 play-off matches both took place ahead of the quarter-finals, with Japan (WR: 11) and India (WR: 12) being first in action. Both of Japan’s goals came courtesy of penalty corners, as Kana Nomura and Naho Ichitani put the Cherry Blossoms into a 2-0 lead before half time. India rallied in the latter stages but could not get the goals they required, with Japan reaching Saturday’s 5-6 classification match where they will face fellow World Cup qualifiers South Africa (WR: 13), conquerers of Ireland (WR: 15). The home favourites were the better team in the opening two quarters and took a deserved 1-0 lead into half time thanks to Lisa-Marie Deetlefs penalty corner. The Green Army were much improved after the break, but strikes from Bernie Coston and Lilian du Plessis – the latter arriving after Ireland replaced their goalkeeper with a kicking back – gave South Africa World Cup qualification on home soil. India and Ireland will now play-off for seventh place, which is crucial for World Ranking points and may also keep alive World Cup qualification hopes, depending on what happens in the upcoming Continental Championships. Earlier in the day, Chile (WR: 20) defeated Poland (WR: 18) 2-1 to secure a ninth place finish in the event with the Poles finishing in tenth. The men’s competition semi-finals in Johannesburg take place on Friday 21 July, with Spain playing Germany at 16:45 South Africa Standard Time (UTC +2) before a mouthwatering meeting between Belgium and Australia gets underway at 19:00. In the 5-8 play-off matches, Egypt will take on New Zealand at 12:15 while Ireland play France at 14:30 as the race for fifth place and the subsequent World Cup ticket that comes with it continues. Full coverage of the event is available on www.fih.ch, with reports, news stories, event

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July 18, 2017 Every year on 18 July — the day Nelson Mandela was born — the United Nations (UN) asks individuals around the world to mark Nelson Mandela International Day by making a difference in their communities. Everyone has the ability and the responsibility to change the world for the better, and Mandela Day is an occasion for everyone to take action and inspire change, just as Madiba did every day. This year, the hockey world is joining in worldwide celebrations which are coinciding with the Men’s and Women’s Hockey World League Semi-Finals 2017, currently being held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Today, a number of competition officials gave up part of their rest day to make a contribution towards the cause. The hockey officials represented nations from all over the world, including the Netherlands, India, England, Belgium, USA and Pakistan. A charity organisation called Network of Caring invited the people of Johannesburg to spend 67 minutes of their time assisting them with assembly of 150 wheelchairs for distribution in the Eastern Cape, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Namibia as part of the Free Wheelchair Mission. Network of Caring has delivered over 2,500 wheelchairs around the world to those in need. The figure of 67 minutes is a direct reference to the 67 years that Nelson Mandela campaigned for social justice. It is no secret that Nelson Mandela was a huge sports fan. As a young man, he was a driven athlete, an amateur boxer who ran two hours every morning. It is written that he kept himself in excellent shape during his 27 years in prison. After having won South Africa’s first multiracial elections in 1994, he used sport as a tool to unite people and to redefine the country’s international image. Nowhere was that more striking than during the Rugby World Cup held in South Africa in 1995. Nelson Mandela once said: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.” The hockey world is committed to use our sport for positive change. Hockey is a truly inclusive sport, being played from juniors to masters, by families and people from all walks of life. It offers a para-version, small-sized formats and is proud to be completely gender balanced. Speaking about hockey’s links to such themes, Australia men’s captain and Athens 2004 Olympic gold medallist Mark Knowles said: “I’ve been playing since I was four years old, my kids are now playing and my parents are still playing in their late 60s and early 70s. We play a beautiful game outdoors. We get to play all around the world and, no matter how fierce things get out on the field, the one thing that I love about hockey is that we can go back to the hotel and say g’day to all the other teams and players. We are a sport that mixes genders and pushes for equality.” Germany captain Mats Grambusch also spoke positively of hockey’s positive impact on the world. He said: “Hockey is a sport that makes the world a better place because we don’t have barriers like racism or sexism and anyone can play – from when you are very young until you are very old.” He continued: “It is really important for the world to have team sports like hockey because it brings people together. Team sports make you a better person because you learn how to interact with people. When we come here to play for the national squad, which is a huge honour for all of us, we get to experience other cultures which help us grow as people. It is inspiring to see the culture in places like South Africa and India, and interacting with those cultures makes you a better person.” South African athlete Owen Mvimbi is proud to see hockey supporting this celebration. He said: “It is great to play matches home and away, meeting people in different countries and cultures. Sport brings people together in that way, and makes us realise how similar we all are because people from all over the world have had hard times and good times, and you can relate to that. Everyone on the field, whether winning or losing, we all feel the same. We know what it is like to win and what it is like to lose, which is why you often see the winning team trying to pick up the losing side at the end of a game because they know what it is like to lose. We all want the same thing but we know we cannot all have it at the same time. We all go through tough experiences, but we will all try our best to help each other get through it.” Speaking specifically about Nelson Mandela he said: “I’m just grateful – grateful for the sacrifice that he made for all of us to unite the country. If we could, we should have Mandela Day every day to try to help each other even in small ways. Mandela day is a big deal here, and a lot of people and companies dedicate the whole day in an effort to support each other. We love our country and want to make it a better place as much as possible.” #MandelaDay #ActionAgainstPoverty

July 18, 2017 Johannesburg, South Africa: It was women’s quarter-final day at the Hockey World League Semi-Final, with USA, Argentina, England and Germany all winning their matches to move into the competition final four as well as securing qualification for two of the sport’s biggest occasions. For USA, Argentina and Germany, their respective quarter-final victories over Japan, Ireland and hosts South Africa earned them direct tickets to both the Hockey World League Final 2017 in Auckland, New Zealand and Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018. They will be joined in the Hockey World League Final by England, who beat India on Tuesday, with the line-up being completed by New Zealand, Netherlands, China and Korea, who recently claimed the top four positions at the Semi-Final event in Belgium. Interestingly, England’s safe passage through to the final four in Johannesburg has a knock-on effect in terms of qualification for next year’s women’s World Cup. As hosts, England have already qualified, which means that the highest ranked of the two sixth placed finishers from the women’s Hockey World League Semi-Final events in Belgium and South Africa will now also be certain of a World Cup place. Italy (WR: 16), who finished sixth in Belgium, will be confirmed at the World Cup if the team that finishes sixth in Johannesburg are ranked below them. In terms of the event semi-finals here in Johannesburg, the matches and timings have been confirmed. On Thursday 18th July, Germany will play Argentina at 16:45 South Africa Standard Time (UTC +2) with England and USA going head to head at 1900. The quarter-final meeting between USA (FIH Hero World Ranking: 6) and Japan (WR: 11) was a nervy affair with both teams conscious it was winner takes all in terms of World Cup and World League Final qualification. Despite both teams having suffered inconsistency throughout the event, Japan and USA were resilient with their structure, cancelling each other out across the field. With very few goal scoring opportunities it took until the 42nd minute for USA to make the breakthrough. Michelle Vittese took the ball from a free hit into the circle and her shot deflected off Japan’s Mami Ichitani, deceived her ‘keeper. USA controlled the remainder of the game and despite a few nervy moments took the victory and a spot on both the Hockey World League Final 2017 and Hockey World Cup 2018. “We came into this match on the back of two pretty rough games, and we knew that Japan have been playing really well in this tournament”, said USA’s Michelle Vitesse after the contest. “We did a lot of preparation ahead of this match because we knew it was going to be a really hard fought battle, so it feels really good that we fell back onto our cornerstones which is defensive intent, resilience and grit.” 

Argentina (WR: 3) showed why they’re one of the top teams in the world right now after grinding out a 2-1 win against a determined Ireland (WR: 15). Delfina Merino capitalised on a mistake by Ireland’s Nicci Daly, rounding both an Irish defender and their ‘keeper to slot in the first goal after 25 minutes. Julia Gomes doubled Las Leonas lead on the 40 minute mark through a penalty corner slotted low past the right side of Irish goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran. Ireland fought back however in the 43rd minute, halving their opponents lead thanks to a penalty corner from Roisin Upton. Argentina held on however to claim their tickets to Auckland and London for the World League Final and World Cup respectively. World Cup hosts England (WR: 2) confirmed that they would also be heading to Auckland at the end of the year, overpowering India (WR: 12) 4-1 despite the absence of the influential but under-the-weather Lily Owsley. Giselle Ansley put England ahead from the penalty spot six minutes into the contest before captain Alex Danson doubled the advantage before the end of the first quarter. Susannah Townsend volleyed in a third in the 42nd minute, although India’s Eves gave themselves a glimmer of hope three minutes from the end when Gurjit Kaur netted from a penalty corner. However, England rounded of a solid performance with a open play strike from Hannah Martin, a goal that she richly deserved after being a consistent attacking threat. It was a extra special day for England defender Laura Unsworth, whose 200th international appearance was marked in winning style. In the final match of the day, home favourites South Africa produced a monumental effort against Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallists Germany but it was not quite enough, with the European nation winning 1-0. As has been a constant throughout this, a huge crowd was on site to witness not just the match but also the 200th international appearance of South Africa captain Nicolene Terblanche. However, they were to leave disappointed as Camille Nobis scored the only goal of the game to help Germany secure their safe passage through to the World Cup and the World League Final. South Africa’s chances of World Cup qualification remain alive as they will compete in the 5-8 classification matches. “Qualifying for the World Cup was our main aim for this year, so obviously we are delighted”, said Germany captain Janne Muller-Weiland after the match. “It means a lot to us, to travel here and achieve that.” On Wednesday 19th July, the quarter-finals of the men’s competition will take place, with a place at both the Odisha Men’s Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017 and the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018 on the table for the winners. At 11:15 South African Standard Time (UTC +2), Pool A winners Australia will take on Egypt, who finished fourth in Pool B before Pool A’s second ranked team Spain face Ireland, who finished third in Pool B, at 13:30. Pool B winners Germany go head-to-head with Pool A’s fourth placed team France at 15:45, with Pool B runners-up Belgium playing Pool A’s third place finishers New Zealand at

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