The FIH is pleased to announce that the 2012 edition of the Women’s Hockey Champions Challenge 1 will be held in Dublin, Ireland from 29 September to 7 October, and to see Irish Hockey build on the enthusiasm and legacy of two successful tournaments hosted in the last 12 months, the Women's Electric Ireland Champions Challenge 1 last year, and the Olympic qualifying event hosted in Dublin earlier this year.
The teams qualified to participate in the event are Australia, Belgium, India, Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, Spain and the United States. The eight teams will be competing in two pools of four, with the winner of the event eventually securing one available place in the Women's Hockey Champions Trophy 2014, to be played in Argentina, where the winners will join the already qualified teams from Argentina, England, Netherlands, Germany and Japan. Two further contenders will be assigned invitational places at a later date by the FIH Executive Board.
Commenting on the impending event, Chief Executive Angus Kirkland said, "IHA is delighted to have been awarded this prestigious event. The event allows us to build on the profile generated from the Electric Ireland FIH Road To London, hosted in March and being in season, we look forward to welcoming hockey fans to the National Stadium in UCD. With four Olympic teams, it will be a superb showcase of top class hockey and it provides a wonderful opportunity for our team to showcase their talents to a home audience."
Director of High Performance Dave Passmore was also looking forward to the event, saying "We are delighted to be hosting this event building on the success and broader benefit of the hosting of the Men's Electric Ireland FIH Road To London this year. With such a high standard of opposition, coming so soon after the London Olympics, this should be an exciting and high quality event. Falling at the start of the club season, our ladies will be keen to replicate the form they showed going into the OQT final in March and demonstrate some fast flowing hockey for the Irish public."
More details on the event will follow in due course.
Tournament Dates: 29 September to 7 October, 2012
Tournament Venue: National Hockey Stadium, UCD, Dublin, Ireland
Current World Rankings of the participating teams:
7th - Australia
10th - USA
11th - Spain
12th - South Africa
13th - India
14th - Ireland
16th - Belgium
18th - Scotland
