Women’s Asia Cup 2022 hockey shifted from Thailand to Oman
India are the defending champions of the tournament starting on January 21. The top four will qualify for the women’s hockey World Cup.
The Asian Hockey Federation (AHF), on Wednesday, announced that the Women’s Asia Cup 2022 will be held in Muscat, Oman from January 21 to 28.
The tournament was earlier scheduled in Bangkok, Thailand on the same dates but was shifted to Oman, which will host the tournament for the first time.
This will be the Indian women’s hockey team’s first real test since finishing fourth at the Tokyo Olympics in August. Earlier this month, the team had to withdraw from the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy after a player tested positive for COVID-19.
The Rani Rampal-led side are the current Asian champions. India won their second title in 2017, defeating China 5-4 in a shootout after regulation time ended 1-1. South Korea, with three titles, are the most successful team in the women’s Asia Cup.
The top eight teams of Asia - India, China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore, will vie for the Women’s Asia Cup 2022 title at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat.
The competition will be played in a two-pool format with cross-over classification matches.
The top four teams of the tournament will qualify for the FIH Women’s World Cup 2022 to be held in Spain and the Netherlands from July 1 to 17, after the World Cup qualifiers were scrapped due to COVID-19.