The 34 year old German umpire Christian Blasch received his Golden Whistle from FIH Vice President Tony von Ondarza for umpiring his 100th Senior International match at the Hamburg Masters 2009 in Hamburg, Germany last weekend.

He also received a DHB pin for meritorious achievement, presented by Stephan Abel, the President of the Germany Hockey Federation (DHB) and FIH Executive Board member. A framed copy of Match Sheet and a bunch of flowers was presented by the Chairman of the German Umpiring Committee, Michel von Ameln.

Blasch became an International Umpire in November 1998 and has been a member of the World Panel since November 2003. He has umpired at two Olympic Games to date (Athens (GRE) 2004 and Beijing (CHN) 2008). He has also officiated at one World Cup (Monchengladbach (GER) 2006) and two Champions Trophies (Cologne (GER) 2002 and Rotterdam (NED) 2008).

With this award Blasch becomes the 27th Male Umpire to receive a Golden Whistle, and the 3rd German Umpire to achieve the 100 Senior Internationals milestone (after Claude Seidler in 1993 and Richard Wolter in 2000).

Please click here for the complete FIH Golden Whistle list.