The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Germany has to qualify for the Olympics

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Tuesday, Aug 28, 2007
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Germany has to qualify for the Olympics

Hockey Correspondent

Chennai: World Champion Germany has been pushed to a humiliating stage of qualifying for the Beijing Olympics in Beijing, sharing the predicament of India, an eight-time gold medallist, and Argentina.

This scenario emerged when Germany lost the bronze medal match to Belgium 3-4 in the European hockey championship that concluded at Manchester on Sunday.

Belgium, which figured last in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, produced some stunning performances in the European Cup, before losing 2-7 in the semifinals to the Netherlands.

Belgium had finished last in the six team Champions Challenge tournament at Boom in June-July 2007.

The Netherlands, which beat Spain 3-2 in the final on Sunday, are the other two teams to make it to the Olympics from the European Zone.

Barring the Oceania zone, the qualifiers from all other regions have now been identified. Besides, Netherlands, Spain and Belgium, three from Asia (South Korea, China (host) and Pakistan), one each from the Americas (Canada), Africa (South Africa) are sure of their berths for Beijing. The Oceania zone winner will be known by the end of next month.

There will be three places left from the three qualifiers to be held in February-March 2008, and the winner of each event to be held at Chile, Japan and New Zealand, will complete the line-up of 12 for men.

In the women’s section, Germany, winning the European title for the first time after beating the Netherlands 2-0 on Sunday, made the grade along with England for the women’s competition. England beat Spain 3-2 for the bronze.

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