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Ireland qualify for 2016 Olympics hockey after a century

Published

9 years ago

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Dublin: The Irish men’s hockey team has qualified for the Olympic Games after a gap of more than 100 years, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) confirmed on Sunday.

It marks the first time in over 100 years since an Irish hockey team participated in an Olympic Games, with their men picking up the silver medal in the inaugural Olympic hockey event which took place in London in 1908.

Ireland qualified after Australia defeated New Zealand 3-2 in the Oceania Cup final, which took place earlier in the day.

After Australia were declared Oceania continental champions, a further qualification spot opened for the team ranked highest among the non-qualifiiers in the Hockey World League (HWL) Semi-Finals, which Ireland secured.

Ireland finished fifth at the HWL Semi-Final in Antwerp, Belgium, earlier this summer and became the eleventh team to qualify for Rio 2016 Summer Games.

They join Oceania champions Australia, India who qualified as Asian Games champions, Argentina as Pan Am Games champions, the Netherlands as European champions and Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Canada and Spain through the HWL Semi-Finals. Former Olympic champions Pakistan have not qualified.

Brazil also confirmed their place after satisfying the host nation participation criteria established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and FIH.

The remaining Olympic berth will not be finalised until the conclusion of the ongoing African Hockey Championships that started on Friday.

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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia

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2 years ago

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May 5, 2022

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The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.

Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.

Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”

Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.

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