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The draw for the eighth edition of the 2013 Oceania Cup hockey tournament is out.
The Oceania Hockey Federation (OHF) has given its approval to the draw for the event, which will be played at the TET Multisports Event Centre in Stratford in New Zealand from October 28 to November 3.
The seven-day event, which is an international men’s and women’s field hockey competition held every two years, assumes a lot of significance given the fact that the winning men’s and women’s teams seal an automatic berth in the World Cup and Summer Olympic Games.
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The Oceania Cup will renew the intense hockey rivalry between the Australia and New Zealand men’s and women’s teams.As per the draw,the New Zealand men and women will lock horns with Australia, Samoa and Papua New Guinea in the Oceania Cup.
Four matches will be played every day during the four days of the tournament, with Friday scheduled as a rest day.
The women’s final will be played at 2pm and the men’s final will be at 4.30pm on Sunday 3 November.
It may be mentioned here that the inaugural Oceania Cup was first held in 1999 in Brisbane, Australia.
Only hosts Australia and New Zealand took part in the men’s competition, playing six matches in that edition.
The Kookaburras won the first game 4-3 before drawing the second 1-1. The Aussies won the third game 3-1, before losing the fourth 2-3. The Kangaroos then thumped their Trans-Tasman rivals 6-0 and 5-3 in the fifth and sixth games respectively.
The inaugural women’s completion saw only Australia and New Zealand take part, featuring in three matches – The Hockeyroos beat the Black Sticks eves 4-0 in the first game before pipping them 2-0 in the second match. They won the third match 1-0.
The Oceania Hockey Federation (OHF) has traditionally rotated the Oceania Cup between Australia and New Zealand except for the 2005 edition, which was held in Suva, Fiji. In fact, Australia has hosted this event four times, while New Zealand have played hosts twice.
Australian men have won all the seven editions so far, while the Australian eves have won it four times, with New Zealand eves winning thrice.
Australian men and the New Zealand women won the last edition held in Hobart.
2013 Oceania Cup Schedule
October 30: Papua New Guinea vs Samoa Women, Australia vs Samoa Men, New Zealand vs Papua New Guinea Men, New Zealand vs Australia Women
October 31: Papua New Guinea vs Samoa Men, Australia vs Samoa Women, New Zealand vs Papua New Guinea Women, New Zealand vs Australia Men
November 1: Rest day
November 2: Australia vs Papua New Guinea Women, Australia vs Papua New Guinea Men, Samoa vs New Zealand Women, Samoa vs New Zealand Men
November 3: 3 v 4 Play-off Women, 3 v 4 Play-off Men
November 4: 1 v 2 Final Women, 1 v 2 Final Men
