Dates of Olympic Qualifiers released

Following the announcement by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) at its Congress last month of the six hosts of the Olympic Qualifiers for the 2008 Olympic Games, the dates for these six tournaments are now confirmed. Starting from 2 February 2008 until 4 May 2008, the last three Olympic tickets in each gender will be awarded to the winners of the respective Olympic Qualifiers.

The Olympic Qualifiers are the last possibilities for nations who do not qualify directly through their Continental Championships to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The first nine spots in each gender will be filled from December 2006 until September 2007 during the several Continental Championships.

At this stage, China, Korea and Pakistan are already qualified for the men’s hockey competition at 2008 Beijing Olympics, while China and Japan are qualified for the women’s hockey competition at 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Both for the men’s and women’s Olympic hockey qualifying tournaments, the best 18 nations not qualified will fight in three tournaments of six teams for the last three spots.

The schedule for the Olympic Qualifiers is as follows:

2-10 February 2008: Men’s Olympic Qualifier in Auckland, New Zealand.
1-9 March 2008 Men’s Olympic Qualifier in Santiago, Chile.
5-13 April 2008: Men’s Olympic Qualifier in Kakamigahara, Japan.
12-20 April 2008: Women’s Olympic Qualifier in Baku, Azerbaijan.
19-27 April 2008: Women’s Olympic Qualifier in Kazan, Russia.
26 April-4 May 2008: Women’s Olympic Qualifier in Vancouver, Canada.
In the event that one of the Olympic Qualifier organizers qualifies for the Olympic Games at an earlier stage; the Olympic Qualifier will be allocated to another (reserve) country.