African Hockey Federation | General News Archives - Page 56 of 71

PRESS RELEASE: CORONA VIRUS OUTBREAK

24 March 2020 | Cairo, Egypt: To all the people of the world, our global hockey family, partners, stakeholders, fans and followers: Given the current global circumstances, we hope you and your loved ones are safe and in good health. We are conscious that there are daily significant developments regarding the COVID-19 (Corona) virus outbreak and are following up closely such developments as well as measures and announcements taken by governments, the WHO, the IOC, the FIH and local health/sports bodies around the world. Our hearts and thoughts go out to the people who have been affected by this unprecedented event.

Long-serving members of the international hockey community

March 3, 2020 International Women’s Day gives the global hockey community the perfect opportunity to showcase and celebrate some of the great work being carried out by women across the world. Many of the women celebrated during our week-long recognition of achievements have become leaders within our sport and are the driving forces behind change, progress and development. Whether it is having the vision to provide leadership experience opportunities through coaching hockey or whether it is developing the skills to lead a national team, these are all instances where the hockey community is demonstrating yet again, its huge and uncompromising approach to equality in all aspects of life. Day Two – African Hockey Federation As we continue our week long celebration to mark International Women’s Day, we meet three women who have been the backbone of African and international hockey for more than four decades. When it comes to familiar faces within the African hockey community, or on the wider international hockey scene, there are no better known characters than Ginny Ross, Marelize de Klerk and Sheila Brown. All three women have known hockey at every level of the game and in roles that cover just about every aspect of the game. Their pathways have crossed many times, as officials and administrators within the game, and right now Sheila and Ginny are working closely to ensure continuity at the continental federation as Sheila has just taken over the reins from Ginny as Vice President of the African Hockey Federation. Ginny’s pathway into hockey began as a school girl in Zimbabwe. She was selected for the Zimbabwe national team and continued to play elite level hockey until the birth of her children. Over the past 30 years the energetic Zimbabwean has developed a portfolio of hockey roles that would fill a text book. An FIH international umpire, FIH Level 3 Coach, administrator – including at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games – and various positions on both the Zimbabwe Hockey Association (HAZ) Board, the Africa Hockey Federation and the FIH. In recent years, Ginny’s involvement in hockey has been almost fully focused on development and education. Currently, she is a member of the FIH development committee, an executive member of the HAZ with responsibility for coaching and development and an executive member of COSAHA. She is also a FIH Educator. Talking about her enthusiasm and drive to develop playing and coaching talent, Ginny says: “I am passionate about hockey and I work hard for the sport throughout Africa. I am always there to encourage and help others within the game wherever I can.” For South Africa’s Marelize de Klerk, it was the fact that hockey was such a gender balanced sport that drew her in as a youngster. “I just loved the interaction between the guys and the girls and the fact we could all socialise together after matches.” Marelize took up umpiring by accident – the appointed umpire failed to arrive for the match. She says “My strategy in that first game was, just stay near the game, blow your whistle, point in any direction, but look them in the eye. A couple of years later I umpired my 150th senior international on the very same field.” Since then, Marelize has umpired at three Olympic Games (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 – where she umpired the final). At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, she was umpire manager, and it will be a high five this year when she reprises that role at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. She also has a place in the history books as the first female umpire to reach the 200 international match mark. Away from the umpiring side of things, Marelize was a member of the African Hockey Federation Executive Committee from 2010-2017 and is currently on the FIH Competitions Committee. Marelize’s commitment to the sport is immense. She says: “After the Sydney Olympics, which I loved, but which was such a big moment and experience, I decided to do things differently for Athens. I changed my training programme, started to umpire in the men’s league, I introduced eye gym and mental training into my routine. I just tried to move my approach to the game to a much more professional level.” With her fifth Olympic Games on the horizon, there is no doubting the professional approach that Marelize continues to take in her search for excellence. Known as The Colonel, Sheila Brown is devoted to the sport she first fell in love with as a youngster. With 43 years of active service in one of the toughest environments in the world, the Johannesburg-based police officer used hockey as an escape from the rigours of the job. While she enjoyed playing, it was organising and administrating where Sheila excelled. She became President of the Southern Gauteng Hockey Association at a very young age and served in that role for more than 20 years. Her international break came in 1995 when she was asked to judge at an event in the Caribbean. Following that moment, Shelia moved up the ranks to Tournament Director, where she officiated, among many other events, at two Champions Trophies and two World Cups. Sheila also has an impressive Olympic record. She was judge at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Assistant Tournament Director in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 before becoming Tournament Director at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Aside from her new role as Vice President of the AfHF, Sheila currently serves on the FIH health and Safety Committee as well as becoming Chair of the FIH Officials Committee. While an absolute stickler for rules and protocol, Sheila is renowned and respected for her fairness and compassion to everyone she works with in the hockey community. With typical humbleness, she says: “It has always been the greatest honour to have been afforded these appointments.” #IWD2020 #EachForEqual

Press Release: AfHF-PHARCO Sponsorship renewed for 2020

Cairo, Egypt: Based on prior agreement to renew their sponsorship contract annually after its successful 1 st edition in 2019, the AfHF has concluded its 2 nd year sponsorship agreement for 2020 with PHARCO Pharmaceuticals (www.pharco.org), one of the leading major pharmaceutical companies in Egypt, Middle East & Africa area. Read full message below:

AfHF Presents Roadmap for 2020

Presenting the AfHF Road Map for the year 2020!

First FIH Hockey Junior World Cup on African soil

February 17, 2020 Lausanne, Switzerland: The next Women’s FIH Hockey Junior World Cup will be held in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in 2021. While the dates will be determined later, FIH can confirm that the competition will be played towards the end of that year. It is the first time that the African continent will organize the pinnacle of junior hockey. The Men’s edition will be staged in India. Venue and dates will be confirmed at a later stage but the event will also take place at the end of 2021. The FIH Hockey Junior World Cup involves the best of young talents globally. This is the perfect platform for under-21 players to unleash their raw skill onto the international hockey scene and progress further to become the stars of tomorrow, making this event a unique one! 16 teams will compete for the title, with continental quotas established as follows: Men Africa: 2 teams Asia: 4 (including India, as hosts) Europe: 6 Oceania: 2 Pan America: 2 Women Africa: 2 teams (including South Africa, as hosts) Asia: 3 Europe: 6 Oceania: 2 Pan America: 3 The European Continental Championships were completed in 2019 and saw the following teams qualify: Men: Germany, England, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, France Women: Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Russia, England The next Continental qualifiers are scheduled throughout 2020: Asia: April 2020 (Women), June 2020 (Men) Africa: June 2020 Pan America: December 2020 Oceania: TBC The full qualification criteria are available here. The 2016 FIH Hockey Junior World Cups were won by Argentina (Women) and India (Men). For more information on these events, please click here. #RisingStars

Tokyo 2020: Japan-Australia (Men) to open the show

Lausanne, Switzerland: December 17, 2019 On the occasion of a press briefing in Tokyo involving Tayyab Ikram, FIH Executive Board Member and IOC Olympic Solidarity Commission Member, Koji Murofushi, Tokyo 2020 Sports Director, Shihori Oikawa, Japan Women’s hockey national team player and Seren Tanaka, Japan Men’s hockey national team player, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) today revealed the match schedule of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic hockey tournaments. The opening match will involve the Men’s national squads of Japan, the hosts, and the current number one team in the FIH World Rankings, Australia, on 25 July (09:30 local time). The first match of the Women’s tournament will be played on the same day and sees the Netherlands – who are topping the FIH World Rankings – taking on India (20:45 local time). The Men’s and Women’s Gold medal matches will take place on 6 and 7 August respectively. The full match schedule of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic hockey tournaments as well as the pools – which were confirmed last month – can be viewed here.The matches will be staged in the brand-new Oi Hockey Stadium, in Japan’s capital city. The full information about ticketing for the events is available here for Japan residents and here for non-Japan residents. #Tokyo2020 #RoadToTokyo #GiftOfHockey

FIH unveils new World Ranking system for 2020

Lausanne, Switzerland: December 12, 2019 Following 12 months of painstaking research, analysis and testing, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) is delighted to reveal details of the new FIH World Ranking system that will be employed from 1 January 2020. The fresh approach – which has been approved by the FIH Executive Board – sees a switch from the existing tournament-based World Rankings to a more dynamic, match-based system, one which is designed to increase opportunities for all National Associations to gain rankings points and also provide a better reflection of current performance. The outgoing FIH World Ranking system has served the sport since 2003, being originally devised to allocate teams into pools at tournaments. The old model operated well on various levels, ranking the top teams who participated in FIH and Continental events with a good level of accuracy whilst also allowing those nations to earn ranking points two to three times per year. However, the numerous restrictions of the tournament-based system – including the limited opportunities for lower-ranked teams to earn points, the degree of subjectivity required to determine the relative strengths of the five continents in order to calculate continental ranking points, and the fact that over 60 percent of international hockey matches had no ranking points on offer – have provided an ever-strengthening case for a change of approach. The new match-based World Ranking system involves an exchange of points between the two teams competing in each FIH-sanctioned match played. In short, the number of points exchanged depends on a trio of factors: the result of the match, the relative ranking of the teams and the importance of the match. As well as the aforementioned increased opportunities to earn points, the new model removes much of the subjectivity surrounding continental weighting by creating a system which is fair to all, whilst also encouraging the playing of international matches. The decision to introduce a new World Ranking system comes at the end of a year-long trial period. Using every official international match played since the end of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, a working model of the new system was created, allowing for constant monitoring, assessment and adjustment throughout 2019. The results of the test phase indicated that the new system was more dynamic and immediately reflective of current form than the existing World Ranking system and was subsequently approved by the FIH Executive Board. The introduction of the new system for calculating the FIH World Rankings will not affect the current placements – each nation will start 2020 in the same ranking position and with the same number of ranking points that they finished with in 2019. The model explained Based on the Elo rating system, which is used as the basis of many other sports ranking systems When two nations play against each other, a number of ranking points are exchanged between them In every match, the number of points gained by one team is exactly matched by the number of points lost by the other Teams will win more points for beating teams ranked above them, and therefore teams will lose more points for losing to a team ranked below them Teams will win less points for beating teams ranked below them, and therefore teams will lose less points for losing to a team ranked above them If a draw occurs, the lower ranked team will gain a small number of points and the higher ranked team will lose the same number of points The number of points exchanged is dependent on the result of the match (win, lose, shootout win/loss or draw), the importance of the match (part of a major tournament, or a test series for example), and the relative difference in ranking points between the teams before the match Speaking about the decision, FIH Sport and Development Director Jon Wyatt said: “As a sport, we are continually looking to innovate and provide opportunities for our member Nations. This new match-based ranking system will reflect current performance of all nations far more accurately than the previous system, and provide the chance for nations to demonstrate to their players, fans, media and funding bodies where they stand within the world of hockey and how they can move up the ranking. “As with any new system launch and the introduction of change, it will take some time for everyone to adjust, and we will continually monitor the rankings to ensure it is accurate and fair to all. We’re excited about the new element that it will bring to every international match, with teams and fans being able to see the effects of the result immediately on the rankings of the teams involved.” More details about the new FIH World Ranking system, including the formula used in the algorithm, weightings of matches and a Frequently Asked Questions document, can be found at the below link, which will also be where the new system will be published from 1 January 2020. http://www.fih.ch/rankings/outdoor/

Tokyo 2020 Olympic hockey tournaments: pools confirmed

The final participation in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 of all qualified teams has been approved by their respective National Olympic Committees. Consequently, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has now confirmed the Tokyo 2020 pools as follows: Men Pool A: Australia, Argentina, India, Spain, New Zealand, Japan Pool B: Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, South Africa Women Pool A: Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, India, South Africa Pool B: Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Spain, China, Japan To determine the composition of the pools, the same process has been applied as for the Olympic Games Rio 2016 (see Appendix 2). With all participating teams being ranked among the top 16 teams of the current FIH World Rankings, fans can expect thrilling hockey encounters in Tokyo next year! The 2016 Men’s Gold medallists, Argentina (WR:4), will face Australia (WR:1), India (WR:5), Spain (WR:8), New Zealand (WR:9) and hosts Japan (WR:15). The Women’s Gold medallists in Rio, Great Britain (WR:5), will play against the Netherlands (WR:1), Germany (WR:4), Ireland (WR:8), India (WR:9) and South Africa (WR:16). The Tokyo 2020 Olympic hockey tournaments will be staged in the brand-new Oi Hockey Stadium from 25 July to 7 August next year. The match schedule will be announced at a later stage. #Tokyo2020 #RoadToTokyo #GiftOfHockey

2022 FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup in Spain and the Netherlands, 2023 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup in India

8 November 2019 Lausanne, Switzerland: On the occasion of its last meeting of the year today in Lausanne, the Executive Board of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has selected India to host the 2023 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup (13-29 January 2023) and Spain and the Netherlands to co-host the 2022 FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup (1-17 July 2022). The venues will be announced by the host nations. The schedule of the 2022 FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup will be as follows: Preliminary Phase: 2 Preliminary phase pools in the Netherlands (including the Dutch team) 2 Preliminary phase pools in Spain (including the Spanish team) Quarter Finals: 2 crossover matches and 2 quarter-finals in the Netherlands 2 crossover matches and 2 quarter-finals in Spain Final phase in Spain: Semi-finals Match for 3rd place Final The competition format of the 2023 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup will be the same as in 2018. FIH CEO Thierry Weil said: “FIH has received excellent bids to host these prestigious events. It was therefore a difficult choice to make. Since the primary mission of FIH is to grow the sport worldwide – which of course requires to make investments -, the income-generation potential of each bid has played an important role in the decision.” Commenting on the organization of the FIH Hockey World Cups, he added: “We will work closely with the Local Organizing Committees on the sustainability and legacy aspects of these events.” The Executive Board also approved the qualification process for both events: The hosts will qualify automatically (1 team) The winners of the Continental Championships will qualify directly (5 teams) The remaining 10 teams will qualify through a home-and-away play-off; the 20 teams involved in these qualifiers will be determined by Continental quotas, based on the FIH World Rankings at the end of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the finishing positions of teams in the Continental Championships

FIH appoints Officials for Tokyo 2020

September 11, 2019 Lausanne, Switzerland: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) today revealed the list of Officials appointed for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 hockey tournaments. In accordance with the agreed guidelines and processes of FIH, all appointed Officials come from the FIH Pro League panels as these are the top-rated Officials. While performance was the primary selection criteria, the Officials Committee also looked, as a secondary consideration, at the geographic spread of the Officials to ensure that all continents are represented. As a further demonstration of FIH’s “Equally Amazing” policy, the Technical Officials will work across both genders’ matches. Furthermore, while on field Umpires will be the same gender as the match, Video Umpires may be the other gender as has been successfully implemented during the FIH Pro League this year. Technical Delegates Men’s Competition: DECKENBROCK Christian, GER Women’s Competition: STANDLEY Tammy, AUS Umpires Managers de KLERK Marelize, RSA HORGAN Steve, USA SCHELLEKENS Philip, NED WOOLLEY Minka, AUS Technical Officials BENNETT Sarah, ZIM BURT Josh, AUS CATTON Steve, GBR CHAN Alfred, HKG CHEE Lilian, SGP DELLA MATTIA Adrian, ARG FUERST Elisabeth, AUT NAZARET Magda, POL NISHIZAWA Eiichiro, JPN OTI-MENSAH Frank, GHA RICHARDSON Reyah, TTO TOMLINSON Jackie, NZL WARRIS Rogier, NED ZELKIN Rene, USA Umpires – Men’s Panel BLASCH Christian, GER GOENTGEN Benjamin, GER GROCHAL Marcin, POL KEARNS Adam, AUS LIM Hong Zhen, SGP MADDEN Martin, GBR MEJZLIK Jakub, CZE MONTES de OCA German, ARG PRASAD Raghu, IND SHAIKH Javed, IND TAYLOR Simon, NZL TOMLINSON David, NZL van BUNGE Coen, NED WRIGHT Peter, RSA Umpires – Women’s Panel CHURCH Amber, NZL de la FUENTE Carolina, ARG DELFORGE Laurine, BEL GIDDENS Maggie, USA HUDSON Kelly, NZL JOUBERT Michelle, RSA LIU Xiaoying, CHN McCLEAN Ayanna, TTO MEISTER Michelle, GER NEUMANN Aleisha, AUS PRESENQUI Irene, ARG ROSTRON Annelize, RSA WILSON Sarah, GBR YAMADA Emi, JPN Medical Officers GORDON Leigh, RSA NAYAK Bibhu, IND ROLLE Udo, GER The 2020 Olympic hockey tournaments will be staged in Japan’s capital city from 25 July to 7 August next year. #Tokyo2020 #RoadToTokyo #GiftOfHockey