QUALIFICATION FOR 2024 OLYMPICS IN PARIS
There are two potential spots for Ireland’s men from these Championships, which make a country eligible for the Olympic Qualifiers in January up for grabs.
However, as Great Britain participate in the Olympics (rather than England, Scotland or Wales), should Scotland finish in the top two, the third placed team would qualify for January’s Olympic qualifiers.
These qualifiers will be eight teams in two different locations Spain or Pakistan. Three teams from each qualification pool will qualify for the Olympics.
For the women, they will be playing in the top tier EuroHockey Championship in Germany next month. The teams playing in the competition will be Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, England, Scotland, Italy, and Ireland.
What is required here is a top six finish to make the January qualifiers. The winners will automatically qualify for the Olympics and England and Scotland will be represented by Great Britain, so unless Scotland win the tournament (which on current rankings is highly unlikely), Ireland are practically in those qualifiers next January in either Pakistan or Spain. A top three finish in those should see the women through to the Olympics in Paris.
THE TOURNAMENT ITSELF
Ireland played Czech Republic in their opening game, winning 9-0.
On Tuesday (July 25th) Ireland v Ukraine, with Ireland winning 7-0.
On Wednesday, 26th July, Ireland will play Portugal at 7:15pm.
On Friday July 28th the end of tournament positional play offs begin and semi-finals will take place.
On Saturday July 29th the gold medal match 3rd /4th place final and remaining play offs will take place.
Their main goal?
Win Pool A and be one of the two finalists and Ireland would secure a spot in a qualification tournament for next years Olympics due to take place in January in either Valencia in Spain or a venue in Pakistan.
