The latest leg of the men’s Hockey World League begins this Tuesday in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. Five teams are going head to head in a bid to secure a place in the second round of the competition.
Top ranked Oman (FIH World Ranking 36) are joined in the round-robin event by Azerbaijan (38), Sri Lanka (46), Turkey (55) and host nation Qatar (currently unranked), with the winner guaranteed a spot in the next phase. The competition begins on Tuesday 27th November, and finishes on Sunday 2nd December 2012.
The event in Qatar is the eighth HWL Round 1 event to take place so far, with Poland, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Ireland, Austria, Egypt, Scotland, Portugal, Trinidad & Tobago, Chile and USA winning through to Round 2 with strong performances at respective events in Prague (Czech Republic), Singapore, Cardiff (Wales), Accra (Ghana), Lousada (Portugal), Port of Spain (Trinidad & Tobago) and Chula Vista (USA).
The opening match of the tournament takes place at 1600 (UTC/GMT +3) with Sri Lanka facing Turkey before Azerbaijan and Qatar meet at 1800. Oman’s first fixture is not until Wednesday, when they take on host nation Qatar. To see a full list of fixtures, please click here.
For those not in the know, the Hockey World League has been developed by the FIH to present hockey at its best whilst also providing rapidly improving hockey nations with a stage to show what they are capable of. The tournament has four rounds which take place between August 2012 and February 2013, with each round acting as a qualifier for the next. This process gives every team the potential reach the tournament final. The Hockey World League also acts as the qualification competition for the FIH World Cups which take place in 2014, with 12 qualification places up for grabs. To read more information about the aims and structure of the tournament, please click here.
Official match reports from the competition will be posted to the 2012 World League webpage at the end of each tournament day. For real-time results, please follow the FIH World League Twitter page:@World_League1.
