In keeping with its aim of making the sport more viewer-friendly, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has introduced several changes to the rules of the game.
The most important of these changes, to come into force from by year end, is the elimination of extra-time from matches.
According to the new rules, the teams will continue to split points for a draw in league matches while the classification games tied at the end of regulation time will go into a shootout.
Important change
Another important change is the time-limit on the execution of penalty corners.
It was decided to implement a 45-second time-frame for all penalty corners to check excessive delay and time-wasting tactics by teams.
The rule will take effect from the Women’s Hockey World League Round 4 tournament in Argentina, according to the FIH website.
The invitational places for the 2014 Champions Trophy were also finalised, with Germany and England receiving entry in the men’s competition, and New Zealand and China making through in the women’s.
The FIH also decided to continue working on Hockey 5s, using the format for both the Youth Olympic Games qualifiers and the main event.
Under this format, the games will be played in three parts of 12 minutes each.
The decisions were taken during the federation’s recent Executive Board meeting at Lausanne last weekend.
