Hockey bemoan decision to call off qualifiers
The Botswana Hockey Association (BHA) has bemoaned a decision taken by the continental mother body to cancel the Under-21 World Cup qualifiers, which were scheduled for Namibia next month.
As a result of the decision to cancel the qualifiers, the local Under-21 hockey teams will miss out on the Junior World Cup. On Tuesday, Africa Hockey Federation (AfHF) moved to cancel the Junior Africa Cup (JAC), which was to be played in Namibia from August 14-22, 2021. The tournament, which is used as a continental qualifier for the world spectacle, was cancelled due to the escalating number of COVID-19 cases in Namibia. The continental competition was supposed to serve as a qualifier to the Junior World Cup with two teams qualifying from both the men and women categories.
In a press statement, the AfHF said due to the situation in Namibia, results from the previous tournament played in 2016 will be used to determine the two teams that advance to the global tournament in both the men and women categories. “The Af HF has been forced to take this decision given the unfortunate news of the highly contagious COVID-19 variant(s) hitting Namibia and the surrounding countries and the impossibility of having another postponement based on valid reasons as discussed with the FIH,” reads part of the statement. BHA bemoaned the continental mother body’s decision to call off the tournament. Speaking to Mmegi Sport, BHA vice president-technical and national team head coach, Thabatshe Mogorosi said the association had pulled out of the tournament due to financial constraints but would have jumped at the opportunity of hosting the qualification tournament. “We strongly believe that it is a bit unfair. They could have spoken well on time based on the date of the decision that was taken. They should have at least allowed countries (or) offer them a chance to at least bid to host the competitions. For some countries, it will be unfair, as Botswana may have tried to be part of the bid. But since the mother body has decided that there will be no bidding, we have to accept but we are not satisfied,” Mogorosi said.
Egypt and South Africa have booked a place at the men’s tournament by virtue of finishing as champions and runners-up in 2016. While South Africa and Zimbabwe will play in the women’s tournament as they finished first and second in 2016. The BHA had earlier this year broken a 23-month hiatus from international participation at the senior World Cup qualifiers held in South Africa. The men and women’s teams were in South Africa for the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup qualifiers held in April. The teams returned home without a point after four rounds of games each. They, however, managed to – for the first time – attain a continental rank. They are third in Africa Indoor Hockey. South Africa will host the women’s Junior World Cup from December 5-16, 2021 and the men’s event is due to take place from November 25 to December 5, 2021, in India.