Video referral to be used in Olympic qualifiers

After the success of the video umpire referral system in the recently-concluded women’s Champion’s Trophy in Argentina, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has decided to use it in the upcoming Olympic qualifiers.

The FIH has been trying out the system for the last three years in different tournaments. In India, the referral was used for the first time during the 2010 World Cup and it received mixed response from various quarters.

As per the FIH decision, video umpire will come into use on the final days of the Olympic qualifiers.

The qualification tournaments here will start on February 18.

The women’s competition will end on February 25, while the men’s event will finish the next day.

“The video umpire will be used on the classification match days only (i.e. the final day of competition) at each of the 2012 men and women’s Olympic qualification tournaments.

“The tournament director will appoint a video umpire for each match from the panel of umpires appointed for the tournament,” FIH communications manager Jenny Wiedeke told The Hindu through e-mail on Friday.

“The video umpire will be the same for all Olympic qualification tournaments,” she added.

Asked about the possibility of the referral system being used in the Olympics, Wiedeke said, “The video umpire is planned to be used for all matches at the London Olympics.”