Great Britain win HWL Semi-Final, qualify for Olympics

Great Britain's Hollie Webb in action

Valencia, June 22 (IANS) The women's teams of Great Britain, China and Germany qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics on the basis of their top-3 finish in the Hockey World League (HWL) Semi-Final which concluded here on Sunday.

Great Britain beat China 2-0 in the final to take first place of the 10-team tournament. A goal in each half and a sixth clean sheet in seven games saw Great Britain claim first place to go with the Olympic spot they landed a day earlier, seeing off China in the summit clash.

Hollie Webb scored the only goal of a tight-knit, tactical battle in the first half, and Alex Danson got on the end of a Kate Richardson-Walsh corner to score the second.

In the third place match, Germany beat Argentina 3-1 in a penalty shootout after the regulation period score read 1-1 to win the coveted third and final automatic Olympic qualification place.

Also, all the four above mentioned teams, which finished in top-4, qualified for the HWL Final to be played in Argentina in December.

Individual awards were presented to Spain's Georgina Oliva, the Player of the Tournament; Britain's Maddie Hinch was voted Goalkeeper of the Tournament; Charlotte Stapenhorst was named Young Player, and Top Goal Scorer was shared by Carla Rebecchi of Argentina and Sophie Bray of Great Britain, who scored five times each.

The other HWL Semi-Final is going on currently in Antwerp and will conclude on July 5. India is participating in that tournament.