Less than 24 hours after the completion of the men’s and women’s tournaments in India comes another FIH World League event, with the striking Spanish city of Valencia playing host to the women’s Round 2 competition between Monday 25th February and Sunday 3rd March.
The five-nation competition features Ireland (FIH World Ranking 14), Spain (15) Italy (17), Belarus (21) and Czech Republic (37). The two highest finishers in the Round Robin tournament will qualify for Round 3 of the World League where they will join South Africa, Belgium, India and Japan. South Africa and Belgium took the respective first and second places at the World League Round 2 event in Cape Town last month, with India and Japan winning through to Round 3 by claiming the top spots in New Delhi on Sunday.
Three of the teams taking part in this event competed in the very first Hockey World League tournament way back in August, with Belarus emerging as winners of the Round 1 event ahead of the higher-ranked Italy (2nd) and Czech Republic (4th). The Belarusians will be hoping to continue their fine form by grabbing a top two finish in Valencia to reach Round 3, but they will face some serious competition from the constantly improving Ireland and the always competitive Spain. Ireland, the highest ranked team in the competition, have a strong and experienced squad that will take some stopping, although Spain will be determined to claim a tournament victory in front of their home fans. Italy and Czech Republic are considered to be outsiders for a top two finish, but with the World League’s habit of producing shock results it would be foolish to write either of these two teams off.
The squad lists for all of the teams competing in Valencia can be found by clicking here.
The FIH will be providing regular updates of the action on our dedicated Valencia World League tournament website which can be found by clicking here. You will also be able to keep up to date via Twitter by following @World_League1. Live streaming courtesy of tournament organising committee is also available at the following link: www.fhcv.tv .
