FIH confirm WCQ to go ahead

The FIH have stated the BDO women's World Cup Qualifier in Santiago, Chile will go ahead. At this stage, two of the five participants are on site in Santiago: Australia and host Chile.

Ireland, Malaysia and Scotland saw their flights cancelled last Sunday and are now in the stage of attempting to re-book. As soon as any new itineraries are confirmed, the FIH will publish a new match schedule.

With the two teams already onsite, the FIH has also confirmed that the first match of the BDO World Cup Qualifier will be Chile-Australia on Saturday, April 24 at 3.30pm and the plan is still to have the final on Sunday, May 2.

Meanwhile, according to Malaysia blogger Jugjet Singh, the Australians have proposed - in an email copied to the IHA, too - a format by which 13 teams could go to the World Cup should the ongoing flight issues continue.

He writes: "Australia is of the opinion that since there might be a delay in the other teams arriving in Chile, they should be allowed to play a series against the hosts to decide which team plays in the World Cup.

"And the Aussies also suggested, in an e-mail to FIH, that another qualifier be held among the stranded teams where a second ticket to the World Cup will be on offer.

"And if the FIH can’t accommodate the request, the Aussies feel the tournament should be played on a round-robin basis with the top team playing in Argentina."