16 Teams To Compete At FIH Women’s Jr WC
Lausanne (Switzerland), Feb 10: International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Thursday confirmed the 16 teams that will participate in the upcoming Women’s Junior World Cup, which is scheduled between April 1-12 in Potchefstroom, South Africa.
India have been grouped alongside Germany, Malaysia and Wales in Pool D, while Pool A consists of Canada, Netherlands, United States, Zimbabwe. England, Ireland, South Africa and Ukraine form Pool B, and Argentina, Korea, Russia and Uruguay complete Pool C.
The event was scheduled to be played in December 2021 but had to be postponed due to the Omicron outbreak.
Japan, Belgium and Spain had qualified for this tournament but have decided not to take part in the rescheduled event. As such, they have been replaced by Malaysia, Ukraine and Wales.
Australia, New Zealand and China had withdrawn already last year due to Covid-related reasons and were replaced by Argentina, Ireland and Korea.
In order to support all teams, FIH has decided to extend the number of players to 20 per team. However, only 18 players will be allowed on the start list of any match. The event will start and finish one day earlier than initially planned.
This move will help players getting back to their respective clubs and be available for domestic fixtures. FIH CEO Thierry Weil said, “The FIH Hockey Junior World Cup is such an important milestone in international players’ careers that we’re really happy to be able to stage the upcoming edition, in South Africa, after we were left with no other option than postponing it last year. We’re looking forward to seeing so many of hockey’s rising stars in action in just a few weeks time!”
It will be the ninth edition of the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup. Argentina won the last edition in 2016 in Santiago, Chile. In the final, they overcame Netherlands, who won three Junior World Cups – a record to date – in 1997, 2009 and 2013.
