world.hockey.league.7

Home favourites Argentina overpower Pan-Am rivals Canada in competition semi-final

 Germany defeat reigning HWL champions the Netherlands in second semi and will face Los Leones in Sunday’s final

Netherlands & Canada to contest 3-4 play-off, with a guaranteed ticket to Rio 2016 on the line  

 

Host nation Argentina and Germany have reached the competition final of the men’s Argentina Hockey World League Semi-Final in Buenos Aires, claiming two of the event’s three guaranteed tickets for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in the process.

As well as a ticket to Rio, the two victorious nations also confirmed their places at the prestigious Hockey World League Final in India, the showpiece event where the eight remaining teams in the competition will fight it out for the chance to be crowned HWL champions.

Goals from Gonzalo Peillat, Juan Gilardi and Ignacio Ortiz helped Argentina to a 3-0 victory over Pan-American rivals Canada in the first semi-final, while a late strike from Oskar Deecke gave Germany a 2-1 semi-final win over European rivals and 2013 HWL champions the Netherlands at the Centro Nacional de Alto Rendimiento Deportivo (CeNARD) in Buenos Aires.

Argentina and Germany become the second and third nations to seal their places at the Rio 2016 Olympics, joining eight times Olympic champions India, who took the first qualification spot by winning the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, Korea.

The fourth nation to qualify for the men’s Olympic hockey competition will be known on Sunday, with the winner of the 3-4 Classification match between Netherlands and Canada also being certain of a place at Rio 2016. 

Earlier in the day, a last minute equaliser from Spain striker Pau Quemada proved to be a pivotal moment for his side in their 5-8 play-off meeting with Korea, with the Europeans emerging triumphant in a shoot-out to land a place in Sunday’s 5-6 Classification match. Their opponents will be New Zealand, who cruised to a 4-1 win over Japan.

 

The classification matches will take place on Sunday 14th June with the action getting underway at 10:30 (local time – UTC/GMT -3). The running order is as follows:

7th – 8th   10:30    Korea  v Japan

5th – 6th   13:00    Spain  v  New Zealand

3rd – 4th   15:30    Netherlands  v  Canada

Final         18:00    Germany  v  Argentina 

- Advertisement -