We are in the middle of the countdown to experience the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the details are already closed for the most important and anticipated mega sporting event of the year. Field hockey is no exception and in the words of Tayyab Ikram, president of the International Hockey Federation, “everything is ready for hockey stars to shine.”
The top director of field hockey worldwide spoke with the Federation’s official website and gave his impressions ahead of the rings event. “I hope that the Olympic spirit will prevail throughout the Games. In today’s hectic world, I am convinced that sport – especially mega-events like the Olympic Games – can soften morale and unite people. The Olympic Truce is a strong symbol that unites people,” commented the leader of Pakistani origin.
“For us, as an International Federation, our responsibility is to ensure that athletes can express themselves in the best possible conditions,” Ikram added. “Thanks to the efforts dedicated to training, to the professionalization of all hockey structures, to the physical, technical, tactical and mental preparation of athletes, the quality of hockey continues to increase.”
When asked by neutral spectators and those who are not familiar with hockey, the FIH president invited: “Come and discover our sport! Witness its skill, its speed and its dynamism! It is also fair play. “I am convinced that these Games will be a great showcase for hockey and an ideal springboard for its development, especially in the host country, which will also inherit a very high-level work tool with this new infrastructure,” he announced excitedly.
A HISTORICAL SCENARIO
Paris 2024 hockey will be played between July 27 and August 9 at the Yves-du-Manoir Olympic Stadium, which was the main venue for Paris 1924 and which after a hundred years is once again part of the Olympic Games. It has a capacity for 12,000 people. There will be 12 teams in both the men’s and women’s teams, divided into two groups. In men, Group A is made up of the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, France and South Africa; while Belgium, India, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland will compete in Group B.
Regarding the women’s competition, Group A will include the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Japan, China and France; while Group B is made up of Australia, Argentina, Great Britain, Spain, the United States and South Africa. In both men and women, the first four in each group will advance to the quarterfinals and from then on to the semis and finals seeking the medals.
“First of all I want you to do everything possible to live this experience to the fullest! For some, it may be their only Olympic Games. Can you believe it? The experience of a lifetime!”, encouraged the FIH president to the players of each team “I would tell them to do everything possible at a sporting level so as not to regret anything. Don’t let yourself be inhibited by what is at stake! Convince yourself of your strength and talent,” he added while inviting them to live the Olympic experience with their families, friends and fans.