September 1, 2016 Hockey World League Round 1 continues to offer route to hockey glory The next series of Hockey World League Round 1 events are about to get underway as Glasgow (Scotland), Antalya (Turkey) and Accra (Ghana) prepare to host their respective events. Teams from across the world will be looking to make their mark over the next few weeks as they begin their quest to qualify for the Hockey World League Finals in 2017, and the Hockey World Cups in 2018. Before that their focus must be on qualifying for Round 2, thereafter the Hockey World League Semi-Finals await the top performing teams. Vital International Hockey Federation (FIH) Hero World Ranking points will also be on offer to those participating, and could prove crucial in terms of qualification for future events. In Glasgow five men’s teams will be doing battle to secure a spot in Round 2 – Wales, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland and the home nation, Scotland. The tournament starts at 17:00 (BST) on 6 September and takes the form of a round-robin competition. The opening match will be between Wales, who are ranked 36 in the FIH Hero World Rankings, and Portugal who sit at 41. For Welsh coach Zak Jones and his men, this event is a chance for Wales to compete on the global stage and demonstrate that the national association’s strategy 360 – taking a holistic approach to player development – is beginning to deliver results. Scotland come into the event as favourites. They are ranked at 28 and also have home advantage on their side, but they will be pushed by Switzerland, their opponents in the first game, who are ranked two places below them and have been working hard to improve upon their Hockey World League Season Two performance. Then they came fifth in their Round 2 group in South Africa in 2014. Switzerland has a new coach in Chris Fust, who was previously coach to the Czech Republic, and in the past few weeks the team, has played a three-match series against Chile, where they won two and drew the other game. Slovakia are the unknown quantity. Ranked 50 in the FIH Hero World Rankings, this is their second foray into the Hockey World League and they will be hoping the goal scoring brothers Martin and Frantisek Cernansky are on form. The Glasgow event will run from 6-11 September with the top two teams progressing to Hockey World League Round 2. Antalya is one of the other Hockey World League Round 1 events taking place in the next few weeks. The event runs from 9-11 September and is also a round-robin event. The participating teams are Austria (FIH Hero World Ranking 22), Oman (31), Qatar (68) and Turkey (45). The winning team in Antalya will secure qualification for the Hockey World League Round 2. While Austria will be out and out favourites to take the title, these are all teams who have been developing at pace in the past few years as they have embraced the ideals of the FIH Hockey Revolution, bringing higher levels of professionalism to their game. In Season Two of the Hockey World League, Austria made it all the way to the Semi-Finals in Buenos Aires, Argentina and will have the benefit of that experience to draw upon. Long serving players Michael Korper and Benjamin Stanzl will be hoping to lead their team all the way to the Hockey World League Semi-Finals again during this series. The third Hockey World League Round 1 event taking place is a joint men’s and women’s event at Accra in Ghana. This takes place from 9-11 September. Again, the winner of each event will progress to Hockey World League Round 2. Ghana, Kenya, Namibia and Nigeria are sending men’s teams to the event, with all those teams except Namibia also competing in the women’s event. If the African Hockey Championships in 2015 are anything to go by, the competition will be fierce. Ghana is a nation that has been driving hockey forwards through its involvement in the FIH West Africa Targeted Assistance Programme (TAP). The women’s team in particular benefited from spending two weeks at Bisham Abbey, working with England Hockey in 2015. But, as the continental championships demonstrated, Kenya are hard on Ghana’s heels in both the men’s and women’s game, while the hard-working Nigerians will not give up until the final whistle. In terms of FIH Hero World Rankings, the men’s teams are ranked as follows: Namibia (78), Nigeria (53), Ghana (43) and Kenya (38), while the women are ranked: Nigeria (62), Kenya (40) and Ghana (29). This is the second international event hosted in Ghana. A Hockey World League Round 1 event took place here back in 2012 and the country’s ability to host an international event is a mark of how far the country has progressed in a short while. Such global development is at the heart of the FIH 10 Year Strategy, the Hockey Revolution. To follow the events, visit: Glasgow, Scotland – Men Accra, Ghana – Men Accra, Ghana – Women Antalya, Turkey – Men #HWL2016 #MakeYourMark

Set in motion, The Hockey World League Round 1, Accra 2016, on Wednesday 31st August 2016 at 11:00am was officially introduced to public with a very huge media presence. Over 40 media houses were present to witness the official outdooring of Ghana’s biggest hockey event hosted since 2012. On the day some sponsors were also spotted for the first time with a few of them partnering hockey for the first time. Notable among our sponsors are; 1. Vodafone Ghana Limited 2. Esan Loco 3. SBC Beverages (Pepsi) 4. Mohinani Group (Polytank) 5. Accra Brewery Limited Also present was the Executive Board of the Ghana Hockey Association and the Honorable Minster of Youth and Sports. Players and officials of the National Team were also officially introduced to the world for the first time in all their glory and poise to make their nation proud, led by Captains; Gertrude Inkoom and Nsalbini Salya. We have great hopes for our gallant men and women and are truly grateful to all who came and would continue to support Ghana Hockey. Special thanks to the media… We would meet again when we emerge victorious on 11th September. Tournament date: 9th to 11th September 2016.

THE Hockey Association of Zimbabwe have set September 24 as the date for their general meeting that is expected to usher in a new executive to run the association for the next two years. As the current executive’s term of office comes to an end this month all posts will be up for grabs at the Indaba at Chispite Senior School. Humphrey Chigwedere is the incumbent president while the other members are secretary-general Sarah Bennett, treasurer Gavin Stephens, committee members; Tongai Mukwewa, Prince Mwale, William Birkett and Nicola Watson. Chigwedere, who was elected the association’s vice-president in 2014, took over when Mark Manolios resigned. “This year’s agm is an elective one and all members have been informed in terms of the current HAZ constitution. “We are supposed to be eight but we did not replace the vice-president last year. But this year we will have a full executive. All posts are up for grabs. Nominations are supposed to have started coming in and I think they should be in 14 days before the annual general meeting,” said Chigwedere. The association has also scheduled the HAZ Cup for the same weekend as well as the awards ceremony. The tournament is slated for September 24 to 25 at Arundel. The men and women’s event, which targets clubs from all provinces will see the winning teams in each section earning the ticket to represent Zimbabwe at the Club Championships early next year. “It’s a club tournament, that’s what we use to choose our representatives for the Club Championships. It’s a premier club tournament, we take the top teams from each province. “We have four provinces that are more active; Midlands, Masvingo, Harare and Bulawayo. But those that are still developing and are playing hockey they can send their teams. So we might have two extra slots this year because Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West are likely to send teams,” said Chigwedere. The outgoing president said they will be honouring the team of the year, senior player of the year, most promising player, junior player of the year, administrator of the year and journalist of the year. “There is also the president’s award whereby the sitting president will just award someone or people based on what he thought they would have contributed,” said Chigwedere. Hippo Valley are the men’s defending champions for the annual HAZ Cup and BAC are the reigning champions in the women’s section. Source: Ellina Mhlanga : Sports Reporter (The Herald) – September 3, 2016

Chase and Amira Sailors will by the end of the year have their own playing ground that has been donated by Hurley Club from the Netherlands and will be setup at Sikh union grounds at a cost 700,000 Euros. The ground breaking of the took place on Saturday 30th July 2016 and paves way for Raicon contractors to start the work. The turf left Netherlands beginning of July and is expected to arrive anytime this month. Chase Bank who are the sponsors for the two club have entered into a tripartite agreement with Hurley Club and Sikh Union Nairobi (Nairobi Simba) which will see the 3 clubs not only benefit from the turf donation but also exchange programs between the three clubs. Upon completion Amira Sailors, Chase Sailors and Sikh Union will now be playing their League home matches there. This will be the second turf in county in addition to the one at City Park. The one at City Park was laid 8 years and is dilapidated. KHU Chairman, retired Colonel, Nashon Randiek has welcomed the move and lauded saying it is good for the sport.