The Hindu : Top seven teams to qualify for Olympics

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Top seven teams to qualify for Olympics

CHENNAI, FEB. 21 It is now clear that the top seven of the 12 teams taking part in the pre-Olympic hockey tournament at Madrid from March 2 to 13 will qualify for the Olympic Games at Athens from August 13 to 29.

This reality was confirmed in Madrid on Thursday when Greece went down to Canada in the second of the three match series to determine the position of the host team.

With the FIH not agreeing to the convention of allowing the host team as an automatic entry, Greece was given the option — either to finish within the top 12 of the European Championship or play a series with Canada a week before the qualifier to make the grade. The measure was only to test the quality and content of the host unit to take on world-class opposition at the Olympics. If Greece had won a berth, only six would have been eligible to qualify from Madrid.

In the first match on February 18, Canada beat Greece 7-1 and won the second also by three goals to one. It must be mentioned here that former Indian chief coach, Cedric D'Souza, coaches Greece.

Interestingly, Canada was not even part of the Olympic qualifier but came as a substitute for Cuba which has expressed inability to raise the necessary resources to play in Madrid. Canada was the runner-up to Argentina in the Pan-American Games that determined the American zone qualifier for the Olympics. Canada failed to qualify for the last World Cup at Kuala Lumpur while Cuba finished last in the 16-team competition.

Canada is grouped with India, Pakistan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Belgium in Pool B.

However, Greece has protested the method employed by the International Hockey Federation and decided to approach the Court of Arbitration (CAS) within the International Olympic Committee to uphold the principle of giving the host team an automatic entry into the competition.

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