India qualifies for Champions Challenge I

Chennai: India is among the eight countries that figure in the Champions Challenge I for men in the latest list of teams that qualified for tournaments organised under the control and supervision of the International Hockey Federation for 2009.

India finished second in the Olympic qualifier at Santiago (Chile) and failed to make it to the Beijing Games for the first time in eight decades.

The women’s team finds a place in the Challenge II on the basis of its fourth place obtained in the Olympic qualifier at Baku.

For the first time, the junior World Cup, scheduled at Singapore and Johar Baru (Malaysia) will be fought by 20 countries. India as the champion of Asia takes the top place among the five qualifiers, along with Pakistan, Korea and Japan. Both Malaysia and Singapore make the grade as the host countries.

The teams qualified:

Men: Champions Trophy (Melbourne): Australia, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, England and Korea.

Champions Challenge I: (host to be announced.) New Zealand, Pakistan, Belgium, Canada, China, South Africa, Argentina and India.

Challenge II: Japan, Malaysia, France, Russia, Ireland, Poland, Austria and Chile.

Women: Champions Trophy: (Sydney): Australia, Netherlands, Argentina, China, Germany and England.

Champions Challenge I: Spain, United States, Korea, Japan, South Africa, New Zealand, Azerbaijan, Italy; Challenge II: Belgium, Ireland, Chile, Netherlands Antilles, India, Ukraine, Canada, and Russia.