Malaysia receive bye into Second Round

THE Malaysian men's hocky team have received a bye into the Second Round of the proposed World League tournament to be organised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) after the London Olympics.
The FIH are in the midst of preparing a paper on the tournament, which will see countries receive fairer ranking points than the present system.
It was reported at the FIH website: "The FIH will take the next steps in launching its World League when its Executive Board meets on Nov 11-12. At that meeting, the Executive Board will consider a detailed report from its Competitions Committee on how the new events
will be run."
Included in the paper are details involved in setting up a new competition, from the method and timing of entry through to the final of the World League. What is confirmed is that a total of 62 men’s teams and 51 women’s teams have entered the new tournament.
The other men's teams who received byes to Round Two are India, Canada, Argentina, South Africa, Belgium, China and Japan.
Higher ranked teams Australia, Germany, Netherlands, England, Spain, South Korea, New Zealand and Pakistan have received byes to Round Three.
The FIH will be contacting potential hosts shortly to agree the dates and venues of the Round One and Round Two tournaments, which are scheduled to take place next year following the 2012 Olympics.