Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan have become the 13th team to qualify for the Hockey World Cup 2018, the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) has announced. Ranked 14th in the FIH rankings, Pakistan had finished seventh in the Hockey World League in London earlier this year, meaning they did not immediately qualify for the upcoming World Cup in India. “However, the results at the EuroHockey Championships, currently underway in Amsterdam, Netherlands, have gone very much in favour of Pakistan, with all four of the semi-finalists having already qualified for the World Cup via the Hockey World League route,” the FIH said in a statement Friday. “The team who win their continental qualifier automatically qualify for the World Cup. However, the semi-finals of the European continental qualifiers will be contested by Germany, England, Netherlands and Belgium, who have already qualified for the World Cup. This means that the World Cup ticket goes to the highest placed finisher from the Hockey World League that have not already achieved World Cup qualification. Pakistan are the higher ranked of the two seventh place finishers and will, therefore, get their ticket to the World Cup despite less-than-stellar performances.” Pakistan are joining hosts India, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia, Netherlands, Spain and New Zealand. Pakistan, who failed to qualify for the event in 2014, have won four World Cups, more than any other nation. “The final three men’s World Cup qualification places will be decided by the outcomes of the upcoming Continental Championship events in Oceania (October 9-15, 2017), Asia (October 17-22, 2017), and Africa (October 19-29, 2017),” concluded the FIH statement.

Published in Daily Times, August 26^th 2017.