News for 07 April 2023
All the news for Friday 7 April 2023
Junior Pan American Championships – A few numbers
The 2023 Junior Pan American Championships, men and women, will open on April 10 in Bridgetown, Barbados, with 7 men’s team and 7 women’s teams.
Junior Pan American Championships – Men’s Preview
Canada's Junior Men looking to qualify for fourth consecutive Junior World Cup
The Junior Men’s National Team centralized for three weeks leading up to next week’s Junior Pan American Championship. This is a group has been playing test matches and training together for almost two years and they are ready to take on the Pan Am region, aiming to book their fourth straight trip to the Junior World Cup.
Junior Pan American Championships – Women’s Preview
Junior National Team kicks off their title defense on April 11
In August 2021, Team Canada hoisted the Junior Pan Am trophy, it was the first time — men or women, indoor or outdoor — that a Canadian junior team had claimed the top spot. This week, they start their title defense in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Men's Junior (under 21) Pan American Championship Final Standings
By Tariq Ali
The 13th Men's Junior Pan American Championship 2023 to be held at Saint Michael, Barbados from 10 to 17 April, 2023. The seven teams are participating
Pool A 1 Argentina 2 Brazil 3 Chile Pool B 1 Barbados 2 Canada 3 Guyana 4 United States
Following are the past Final Standings
1st Junior Pan American Championship, Mexico City, Mexico, 1978:
1 Argentina 2 Chile 3 Canada 4 Mexico 5 Cuba 6 Jamaica
2nd Junior Pan American Championship, Santiago, Chile, 1981:
1 Argentina 2 Canada 3 Chile 4 United States 5 Mexico 6 Trinidad and Tobago
3rd Junior Pan American Championship, Orlando, United States, 1985:
1 Argentina 2 Canada 3 Chile 4 United States 5 Trinidad and Tobago 6 Mexico
4th Junior Pan American Championship, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 1988:
1 Argentina 2 Cuba 3 Canada 4 Chile 5 United States 6 Guyana
5th Junior Pan American Championship, Havana, Cuba, 1992:
1 Argentina 2 Cuba 3 Canada 4 United States 5 Chile 6 Mexico
6th Junior Pan American Championship, Bridgetown, Barbados, 1996:
1 Argentina 2 Cuba 3 Canada 4 Chile 5 Mexico 6 Trinidad and Tobago 7 Barbados 8 Venezuela 9 United States 10 Guyana
7th Junior Pan American Championship, Santiago, Chile, 2000
1 Argentina 2 Chile 3 Canada 4 United States 5 Barbados 6 Mexico 7 Trinidad and Tobago 8 Venezuela 9 Paraguay 10 Puerto Rico
8th Junior Pan American Championship, Havana, Cuba, 2005:
1 Argentina 2 Chile 3 Mexico 4 United States 5 Canada 6 Cuba 7 Barbados 8 Trinidad 9 Jamaica 10 Puerto Rico 11 Venezuela
9th Junior Pan American Championship, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 2008:
1 Argentina 2 Chile 3 United States 4 Canada 5 Mexico 6 Barbados 7 Trinidad and Tobago 8 Puerto Rico 9 Brazil 10 Jamaica 11 Guyana
10th Junior Pan American Championship, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2012:
1 Argentina 2 Canada 3 Chile 4 United States 5 Trinidad and Tobago 6 Mexico 7 Barbados 8 Uruguay 9 Brazil 10 Venezuela 11 Puerto Rico 12 Jamaica 13 Guatemala
11th Junior Pan American Championship, Toronto, Canada, 2016:
1 Argentina 2 Canada 3 Chile 4 United States 5 Trinidad and Tobago 6 Mexico 7 Guyana 8 Puerto Rico
12th Junior Pan American Championship
, Santiago, Chile, 2021:
1 Chile 2 Argentina 3 United States 4 Canada 5 Mexico 6 Trinidad and Tobago 7 Brazil
Hockey India announces new support staff for the Indian Men and Women's Hockey Teams
Rhett Halkett to join Indian Men's Hockey Team as Analytical Coach; Alan Tan has been shortlisted as Scientific Advisor while former Japan Women's Team Head Coach Anthony Farry will join as Analytical Coach for Women's Team 
New Delhi: Hockey India on Friday announced that Rhett Halkett and Alan Tan will join the support staff of the Indian Men's Hockey Team in their new roles as Analytical Coach and Scientific Advisor respectively. The Governing Body of Hockey in India has earlier announced Craig Fulton as the new Chief Coach for the Men's Hockey Team.
Madrid double-act in final4 as Bloemendaal and Racing advance
Sanse Complutense and Club de Campo set up a Madrid derby in the ABN AMRO EHL Women’s FINAL4 following their FINAL8 victories while Bloemendaal and Royal Racing Club de Bruxelles advanced to the men’s semi-finals.
European competition beckons for Surbiton and Hampstead & Westminster women
After a busy domestic season, Surbiton and Hampstead & Westminster go straight from Finals weekend to vie for the top honours in Euro Hockey competitions being held over the Easter weekend.
Scotland U21 squads ready for test series matches
Scotland U21 women take on Wales U21 women in a three-match test series at Peffermill this weekend, while Scotland U21 men are away to England at Loughborough University.
Scotland U21 men draw with England in Loughborough before winning the shootout
After a close 2-2 draw at full time Scotland u21 men defeated England 2-1 in a shootout in Loughborough.
Grange head to Vienna in confident mood
Grange head for Vienna this weekend for the EuroHockey Club Trophy and will face Post SV (Austria) on Friday, OSHVSM Phoenix Zytomyr (Ukraine) the following day, and finally Cardiff & Met (Wales) on Sunday in their pool competition. Then on Monday there are the play-off matches – that is 1v1, 2v2 and so on according to final pool positions.
Faizi and Hannan bring some joy to Pakistani hockey lovers
By Ijaz Chaudhry
Since the turn of the century, Pakistan hockey has seen a gradual decline. The downfall has been the worst during the tenure of the incumbent President Pakistan Hockey Federation, Brigadier (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, who assumed the charge in 2015. The national team`s ranking has fallen from 10th to 16th. The failure of Pakistan, the record four times World Cup winner, to qualify for the last World Cup as well as the Olympics is a bigger disappointment.
During these dark times, occasionally some individuals bring good news for downhearted hockey lovers.
The Asian Hockey Federation at its recent congress meeting conferred honours to umpire Faiz Mohammad Faizi and the young player Hannan Shahid.
Pakistan`s senior umpire Faiz Mohammad Faizi has been appointed as the Chairman Umpiring Committee of the Asian Hockey Federation by the executive board of the AHF – the highest an umpire can attain in the continental federation.
A jubilant Faizi tells, “I was at my home in Peshawar when I received the news. It is indeed an honour not only for me but for the country as well”.
Hockey has been his life.
“I started playing at school and appeared in junior and national championships from 1978 to 1990. I represented Peshawar, NWFP (now KP), WAPDA and Pakistan Universities in these nationals, and was good enough to attend the national juniors camp in 1980-81.”
In 1990, Faizi started blowing the whistle.
“Soon, I was umpiring at Pakistan`s national championships. “
It didn’t take him long to enter the international arena.
“I consider myself lucky that I had become an international umpire in 1994. I whistled in the international arena for a long time and retired in 2007 after attaining the superannuation age of 47 for the FIH umpires. During this period, I got promotions to Grade A, and to World Development Panel (a notch below the top tier of World Panel), and umpired in 88 international matches. Major events included Asian Games, Asia Cups, Champions Trophy and Junior World Cup. On the domestic front, I stood in more than ten finals of the national championships.”
After being active on the ground as a player and umpire, it was off the ground as the umpire manager.
“In simple words, the umpire manager is the umpires` coach and selector. He appoints umpires at a tournament, gives them feedback after matches, assesses their overall performance and makes recommendations for their future appointments. I went through the required courses of AHF and FIH for the umpire manager before performing the duty at domestic tournaments. Meanwhile, I did advanced courses, and in 2013 the FIH promoted me as International Umpire Manager. In this capacity, I have been to Olympic qualifiers, Asia Cup, and Indoor Asia Cup, among others. In addition, I have conducted umpire development courses in Hong Kong, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.”
And finally the honour of the Chairman Umpiring Committee of AHF; did he expect that?
“Well, I had been getting appreciation for my work as the umpire manager in international events all these years. You may say, ‘it was in the air’. Still, one can never be sure. I was delighted to get this appointment which runs for four years. “
Designation comes with responsibility.
“Now, I have to make appointments of umpires and umpires managers in the AHF tournaments. More importantly, the job involves designing and implementing development programmes for umpires and umpire managers in the 33 member countries of AHF. In addition, we have to arrange exchange programmes of umpires with other continental federations, and also to recommend Asian umpires, based on their performance, to the FIH for the World Cup and the Olympics.“
While the veteran umpire has reached the highest position in the continent, Pakistani youngster Hannan Shahid was declared the “Emerging Player of the Year 2022” by the AHF.
Remarkably, Hannan had only made his international debut the same year. An exciting talent, the striker was Pakistan`s second top scorer in international matches in 2022.
The lad comes from a very renowned hockey family. Ten across three generations have played for Pakistan’s national, junior, or whites team.
“My family has been the greatest source of strength for me and they felt proud of my achievement. Unfortunately, my mother passed away in 2021 and couldn`t see me play for Pakistan; would have been the happiest person”.
The final selection of the male and female Emerging Player of the Year, as well as the Player of the Year, was announced by the AHF Competition Committee after voting had been done by the coaches of the top 15 Asian hockey countries whose national teams participate on a more regular basis in the international competitions
All four selectees were also named the AHF Athlete Ambassadors for the next two years.
“This is a new initiative of the AHF. The role entails me promoting the image of hockey, work for players` rights, and at the same time increasing players` awareness about doping, rules of the game, protection gear, etc.”
Apart from the family, he also gives credit to Crescent Model School, Lahore.
“The school has excellent sports facilities and I was given a full scholarship. During my time, Crescent Model School won quite a few inter-school tournaments where I was also the captain of the team. After my matriculation in 2021, I have been studying at Government College, Lahore in the Intermediate Commerce group”.
Hannan recalls the award function of the AHF in South Korea.
“Indeed a surreal experience! We first stayed in Seoul for a couple of days before travelling to the picturesque resort of Mungyeong where the AHF Congress was held. Attended by the representatives of almost all the 33 member countries of the AHF, I was presented with a trophy and a cheque of US 1,000 $ by the FIH President Tayyab Ikram and the AHF President Fumio Ogura respectively. It was preceded by a little video clipping which highlighted some of my good show on the pitch. I am grateful for the AHF who made all the arrangements for my travel and hotel accommodation.”
Ijaz Chaudhry writes on hockey & other sports. For more about him and his work, visit: www.sportscorrespondent.info
"I value it the most," says Gurbux Singh on winning the Hockey India Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award 2022
The legendary player shared his views on the recent developments in the Indian hockey domestic structure in the latest episode of Hockey Te Charcha podcast 
New Delhi: “It was a real surprise for me, shocking and a pleasant one.” Those were the words from the Indian hockey legend Gurbux Singh, as he reminisced about the moment he was presented with the prestigious Hockey India Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award at the 5th Hockey India Annual Awards 2022 held last month in New Delhi.
Kit and body image affects girls' participation in sports, new study says
By Ciaran Varley
Howard helped England win a first Commonwealth Games gold for the women's hockey team last summer. Her research suggests skirts are a barrier to entry for some girls in sport.
Gendered sports kits - such as skirts - play a major role in teenage girls dropping out of sport, new research by England hockey player Tess Howard says.