India to host inaugural World Hockey League final

New Delhi - India was Wednesday allotted the final of the inaugural World Hockey League that will now serve as a qualifying tournament for both the World Cup and Olympics, even as the game's governing body reiterated that players will face sanctions if they join the rebel World Series Hockey (WSH).

International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Leandro Negro said the FIH World League will kick-off a month after the 2012 London Olympics and will carry on for over two years. The final round of the women’s event will be hosted by Argentina in December, 2013 and India will host the men’s final round in January, 2014.

Negro said 80 teams will take part in the men’s event and 58 in the women’s. Six to seven teams each will qualify in both sections and they will join the five continental champions and host nation to form the line-up for the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

“The first year will be elimination round and it will be played among teams which are ranked 17 and below in the FIH rankings. The matches in the first round will depend upon the entries. The final and the fourth round will have eight team divided into two pools of four with full classification matches,” said Negre.

The top-eight teams in FIH rankings will get a bye to round three and teams ranked 9-16 will get a bye to round two.

FIH chief executive officer Kelly Fairweather announced that every year the world body will organise an international tournament.

“Every alternate year we will have the Champions Trophy, Champions Challenge I and II. The idea is to have an international tournament every year. We will also try to ensure that the cost to hosts and participants is kept as low as possible in the qualification round of the World League,” he said.

The FIH also reiterated its opposition to the rebel WSH, which is being jointly promoted by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and Nimbus Sports.

“Our stand is very clear. Players and officials are free to join any league, but we have sanctions in place. The WSH is a very good idea and profitable for players, but will only recognise tournaments that are held under the aegis of Hockey India,” he said.