Lausanne (Switzerland), Oct 20 (IANS): The International Hockey Federation on Thursday announced that the Chilean women's national team will be replacing Canada in the inaugural edition of the FIH Hockey Women's Nations Cup Spain 2022, starting from December 10-17.
Following Canada's decision to withdraw from the upcoming FIH Hockey Women's Nations Cup, the rapidly rising Chilean team that has been making waves in international hockey over the past year, has been chosen to replace them. Chile's qualification for the event is based on its world ranking, as they are the next highest ranked team outside of the current participants.
The Chilean team has gone from strength to strength in 2022 and gets a massive opportunity to continue building their momentum in the Nations Cup, where a victory can lead to promotion into the FIH Hockey Pro League.
Chile's first big performance of the year came in the 2022 Women's Pan American Cup, where they finished runners-up to Argentina, and booked a place in the FIH Hockey Women's World Cup Spain & Netherlands 2022.
The Chilean team was the flavor of the Women's World Cup, with excellent performances throughout, but what captivated the crowd even more was the passion and joy that was on display both on and off the field. After all, who can forget the scenes as Chile played their first game at the World Cup, and earned their first win against the reigning silver medalists Wales.
Just this past week, the Chilean women's team added yet another feather to their cap by defeating the reigning World Cup silver medalists and current Pro League champions, Argentina, in the finals of the XII South American Games Asunción 2022, and winning the gold medal.
Chile captain, Camila Caram, shared her excitement at the prospect of her team playing in the Nations Cup and said, "We are very happy as a team to be able to participate in this tournament. We are very sorry that Canada is absent, but it gives us a tremendous opportunity to show our level of play. We hope to be able to live up to the game and these tremendous rivals that we will face that will participate in the tournament."
Chile will now take Canada's place in Pool B alongside India, Japan and South Africa while Pool A consists of hosts Spain, Korea, Italy and Ireland.
The FIH Women's Nations Cup 2022 will run from December 10-17.