New Delhi, India, October 26, 2023: The Indian women’s hockey team will have home support as they bid to make the cut for next year’s Paris Olympics after the International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced that it was shifting the Women’s FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier from Changzhou to Ranchi.
FIH said the decision was being made because the Chinese women’s national team qualified directly to the 2024 Paris Olympics through winning the women’s gold medal at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
“After the Chinese women’s national team qualified directly to the Paris Olympic Games, discussions were held between the Hockey National Associations of China and India for a potential change of hosts, motivated by the fact that maintaining this event in China whilst their national team has already qualified would have impacted the fans and media excitement in the country,” FIH said in a statement.
“The move to India would ensure exactly the opposite and this would benefit all teams as they can expect playing in that wonderful atmosphere and excitement that Indian fans and media are always creating. Therefore, both the Hockey Associations of China and India came up with this proposal, which has now been approved by the International Hockey Federation.”
The tournament will be held in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, from January 13-19, next year. There are three other Olympic Qualifiers – Muscat, Oman (Men’s, January 15-21), and Valencia, Spain (Men’s and Women’s, January 13-21).
Six women’s and six men’s teams will qualify for 2024 Paris through these tournaments. Australia (women and men), the Netherlands (women and men), China (women), India (men) have already secured their berths and will join hosts France.
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