Australia, Belgium and Great Britain qualify for Rio 2016 men’s hockey tournament
With India reaching semi-finals of World League event in Belgium, the other three sides are confirmed for Olympic Games
Australia will compete in the men's hockey tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Getty Images/Paul Gilham)
Australia, Belgium and Great Britain have qualified for the men’s hockey tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, thanks to India’s 3-2 defeat of Malaysia in the World League on Wednesday (1 July).
Qualification for Rio is guaranteed for the teams finishing in the top three of each of the World League semi-finals. Germany, Argentina and the Netherlands qualified in the first three places of the Buenos Aires semi-final last month and now Australia, Belgium, Great Britain and India have reached the last four of the Antwerp semi-final.
However, as India are already guaranteed a place in Rio as winners of the 2014 Asian Games tournament, if they finish in the top three in Antwerp, the highest ranked fourth-placed team from the Buenos Aires or Antwerp tournaments will earn a spot at the first Olympic Games in South America.
With Canada, ranked 15th in the world, finishing fourth in Buenos Aires , this means Australia, Belgium and Great Britain – ranked first, fourth and fifth respectively – would qualify ahead of the Canadians, should they finish fourth rather than in one of the three automatic places.
Australia take on Great Britain and India face Belgium in the last-four matches of the Antwerp World League semi-final on Friday (3 July).
All 12 slots in the men’s hockey tournament at the Rio 2016 Games will be confirmed by the end of the year, with continental qualifying tournaments still to take place for the Americas, Europe, Africa and Oceania. Click here to see the qualifying process.
The Brazilian men’s team must finish in the top six at the Pan American Games this month to confirm their participation in Rio, otherwise their place will go to the seventh-placed team from the World League tournament.
Qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games is an ongoing process and final entries will only be officially confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games). Entries are recommended by national federations or sport organisations to their respective National Olympic Committees or National Paralympic Committees, who decide on final selections.
