The International Hockey Federation has announced that two more places for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games hockey events have been allocated to (FIH) Continental Associations.
This follows confirmation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that Argentina are allowed to take part in the men's and women's hockey events as hosts. To accommodate this change, the IOC agreed that the hockey competition will now comprise 12 teams. The FIH Executive Board subsequently agreed that these 12 teams should be as follows
- The host (Argentina)
- The 1st and 2nd placed teams in each Continental Qualifying Event
- An additional place to the 3rd placed team from the relevant Continental Qualifying Event allocated by draw.
The draw for the final quota places for both the men's and women's competitions was made on 6 July 2017 at the FIH Headquarters in Lausanne by FIH CEO Jason McCracken, FIH People, Governance & Operations Director Melanie Willmore and FIH Competitions Committee Secretary Martyn Gallivan. The results were as follows:
MEN
First Offer – Oceania
If the relevant NOC (National Olympic Committee) turns down this additional quota, the place will be offered to second drawn CF (Continental Federation) representative.
Second Offer – Asia
If the relevant NOC turns down this additional quota, the place will be offered to third drawn CF representative.
Third offer – Europe
If the relevant NOC turns down this additional quota, the place will be offered to fourth drawn CF representative.
Fourth offer – Africa
If the relevant NOC turns down this additional quota, the place will be offered to Pan America (note if Argentina finishes in the top 3 places in the Pan American Qualifying Event, the offer will be made to the 4th placed team in that competition).
If the relevant National Olympic Committee from Pan America turns down this additional quota, the place will be offered to the fourth placed first drawn CF and the whole process repeated.
WOMEN
System of allocation as detailed in men's above.
First Offer – Africa
Second Offer – Asia
Third offer – Europe
Fourth offer – Oceania
Held every four years, the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is the younger sibling of the Olympics. For youth players around the world, this tournament provides the opportunity to test their skills against the best emerging players in world hockey.
Open to players born between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2003, the Hockey5s tournaments will be played at the National Athletics High Performance Centre in the Núñez district of Buenos Aires between 6-18 October 2018 in what is set to be a spectacular experience for hockey's stars of the future.
For more information about the Youth Olympic Games, click here.
