World Cup: FIH selects India, Spain, Netherlands over Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8  – Just days after failing to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Malaysian hockey has been dealt another blow.

Despite showing keen interest to host the next World Cup (either men’s or women’s), Malaysia have failed to get the job.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) Executive Board (EB) meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, today picked 2018 men’s World Cup hosts India to host the next edition from Jan 13-29, 2023.

The women’s edition will be co-hosted by Spain and the Netherlands from July 1-17, 2022, FIH announced in a statement on its website.

“FIH has received excellent bids to host these prestigious events. It was therefore a difficult choice to make,” its chief executive officer Thierry Weil said.

“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. We will work closely with the Local Organizing Committees on the sustainability and legacy aspects of these events,” he added.

The statement said the EB approved the qualification process for both events, with the hosts qualifying automatically, while 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,”  the statement added.

-- BERNAMA