England, Netherlands, Malaysia to host Hockey World League semifinals in June-July

International Hockey Federation (FIH) has announced the dates and venue of the second women’s Hockey World League semifinals. London has been chosen to stage this mega event in June.

Besides hosts England eves, Olympic silver medallists Argentina, Australia and China have all gained automatic passage to the semifinals, given their top eight ranking.

These four teams would be joined by four women’s teams following the completion of the four World League Round 2 events.

The second women’s Hockey World League semifinals would be played at the University of Westminster’s Quintin Hogg Memorial Sports Ground in Chiswick, London from June 22-30. It may be pertinent to mention that the same venue had hosted the London Cup for the past two years.

Specialist banking and asset management group Investec will be the headline sponsor for the nine-day tourney.

The marquee event comes close on the heels of London hosting the London Olympics last year.

England’s willingness to play hosts to the event comes a huge sigh of relief for the FIH. Germany was originally scheduled to stage the women’s Hockey World League semifinals, but withdrew because of financial constraints.

Significantly, tickets for the Investec World League Semi Final will go on sale from March 4.

The first women’s Hockey World League semifinals would be held at Rotterdam, Netherlands from June 13-23. Olympic champions and hosts Netherlands, New Zealand, Germany and Korea have secured a bye to the semifinals and would be joined by four teams from the HWL Round 2 tournaments.

In fact, Rotterdam is also hosting one of the men’s Hockey World League semifinals from June 13-23. Australia, the Netherlands, Spain and New Zealand have earned a direct entry to the semifinals and would be joined by four teams from the HWL Round 2 tournaments.

The second men’s Hockey World League Semi-Finals will be played in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from June 29-July 7. Hosts Malaysia, Germany, England, Pakistan and Korea have secured a bye to the semifinals and would be joined by three teams from the HWL Round 2 tournaments.

It may be noted that Johor Bahru hosted the second Sultan of Johor Cup hockey tournament late last year.

All the four semi-finals (men’s and women’s) will feature eight teams each.

The top eight men’s and women’s hockey playing nations in the FIH World Rankings at the start of 2011 have automatically qualified for the Hockey World League semifinals.

Interestingly, until Malaysia’s announcement as hosts for one of the men’s HWL semifinals, they were slated to feature in the men’s HWL Round 2 tournament in Elektrostal, Russia at the end of May. Now that Malaysia has secured a direct entry as hosts, they would be replaced by Czech Republic.