THE Fiji Hockey Federation (FHF) is over the moon that the national under-18 girls team has qualified for the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Nanjing, China, in August.
FHF president Dr Robin Mitchell said their performance at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) qualification tournament in Port Vila, Vanuatu last week was very good.
Fiji finished in second place behind New Zealand, but both finalists qualify for the YOG.
“We are very pleased that the U18 girls managed to qualify for the 2014 YOG,” he said.
“This is quite an historic event because Fiji women’s hockey and Fiji men’s rugby 7s will be the first teams from Fiji taking part in an Olympic Games, since Fiji joined the Olympic Movement at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.”
He said it took a huge effort from the players to give a good performance because of the different type of turf in Vanuatu.
“The turf is a new synthetic surface which is not filled with sand or requires watering like the National Hockey Centre, making it a more bouncy surface than they’re used to.
“In the new five-a-side format, the whole field is enclosed by what looks like a four inch board, so the tactics are similar to Indoor hockey which we haven’t played in Fiji for about 20 years.”
Suva (Fiji Times)
