FIH to hold Junior Hockey World Cup every two years

Bhubaneswar, Dec 15: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) said on Saturday that the Junior Hockey World Cup will be held every two years.

It also said that the five-a-side format and a new simple FIH ranking system will be introduced in 2019.

FIH CEO Thierry Weil said the junior players should get better international exposure to prove their mettle.

The FIH CEO, however, was clueless on the exact timing of the next Junior World Cup and the host nation.

As per the earlier practice, the FIH used to hold the Junior World Cup every four years since the inception of the tournament in 1979.

The last Junior World Cup was held in 2016 at Lucknow. Indian team was the champion in the tournament.

Weil also said that FIH has decided to introduce the five-a-side format to attract more youth from different countries to hockey.

The FIH CEO informed that it is not a new format and the traditional 11-a-side format will continue to enjoy its usual importance.

Several FIH affiliated countries are already playing the five-a-side format. In this context, FIH will floor the new format in February next year.

A simplified ranking system will also be introduced soon, Weil said.

He also informed that the federation will try to reduce the Hockey World Cup schedule from three weeks to two weeks.

With the Indian team coach Harendra Singh alleging that umpire's decision led to their defeat in the quarterfinal match against the Netherlands on Thursday, the FIH CEO Thierry Weil strongly refuted the allegations.

He also asserted that the questions raised on some of the decisions by umpires during the ongoing World Cup here are unacceptable.

"I think the beauty of sports lies in the principle that you have a winner and a loser. The day you win, you are happy. The day you lose, you are sad, which I understand. Respect for fair play is such a nice thing. When you lose, what do you do? You have to look forward to playing better and win next time," the FIH CEO said.

"When you lost the match, we should gracefully accept the fact. The FIH would not accept such allegations in any manner," he added.

FIH president Narinder Batra said: "I reserve my comments in this regard and I will give it on December 17 after the completion of the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup."