2004 Men's Field Hockey Olympic Qualifier

The Men's Field Hockey Olympic Qualifier for the 2004 Summer Olympics was held at the two artificial pitches of Club de Campo in Madrid, Spain, from March 2 until 13, 2004. Twelve nations took part, and they played a round robin in two groups of six. The top six or seven teams – depening the protest of Greece (see later on) – joined Australia (Oceania Cup winner), Argentina (Pan American Games winner), South Korea (Asian Games winner), Germany (European Nations Cup winner) and Egypt (All Africa Games winner).

The tournament was hit by the Madrid bombings on March 11, killing 191 people, but continued with players wearing black sleeves on their shirts for the remaining three days of the event.

Team squads

fh|Belgium

(1.) Cédric Degreve (gk), (2.) Xavier Reckinger, (4.) Thierry Renaer, (5.) Xavier-Charles Letier, (6.) Loïc Vandeweghe, (7.) Jean-Philippe Brulé, (8.) Thomas Van Den Balck, (9.) Maxime Luycx, (10.) Mike Dewever, (11.) Charles Vandeweghe, (12.) Dennis Dijkshoorn, (13.) Gilles Petre, (14.) Phillippe Goldberg, (15.) Marc Coudron .

fh|Canada

(1.) Bindi Kullar, (2.) Mike Mahood (gk), (3.) Mike Oliver, (5.) Robin D'Abreo, (6.) Steve Davis, (9.) Ken Pereira, (10.) Wayne Fernandes, (11.) Peter Short, (12.) David Jameson, (13.) Rob Short .

fh|Great Britain

(1.) Simon Mason (gk), (2.) Jimi Lewis (gk), (3.) Jason Collins, (4.) Russell Garcia, (6.) Craig Parnham, (7.) Niall Stott, (8.) Tom Bertram, (9.) Mark Pearn, (10.) Jimmy Wallis, (11.) Brett Garrard .

fh|India

(1.) Devesh Chauhan (gk), (2.) Kanwalpreet Singh, (3.) Dilip Tirkey .

fh|Japan

(1.) Takahiko Yamabori, (2.) Naoya Iwadate, (3.) Kenji Asai, (4.) Makoto Karuo, (5.) Ryuji Furasato, (6.) Akira Takahashi, (7.) Kenichi Katayama .

fh|Malaysia

(1.) Roslan Jamaluddin (gk), (2.) Muhamad Amin Rahim, (3.) Chua Boon Huat, (4.) Lugan Kali, (5.) Kuhan Shanmuganathan .

fh|Netherlands

(1.) Guus Vogels (gk), (2.) Bram Lomans, (3.) Geert-Jan Derikx, (4.) Erik Jazet, (5.) Rob Derikx, (6.) Floris Evers, (7.) Sander van der Weide), (8.) Ronald Brouwer, (9.) Piet-Hein Geeris, (10.) Taeke Taekema, (12.) Jeroen Delmee .

fh|New Zealand

(1.) Simon Towns .

fh|Pakistan

(1.) Ahmed Alam (gk), (2.) Muhammad Nadeem .

fh|Poland

(1.) Marcin Trzaskawka (gk), (2.) Tomasz Dutkiewicz, (3.) Miroslaw Juszczak, (5.) Miroslaw Kluczynski, (6.) Sebastian Wladysiak, (7.) Marcin Grotowski, (8.) Zbigniew Juszczak, (9.) Dariusz Rachwalski, (11.) Marcin Nyckowiak, (12.) Arkadiusz Matuszak (gk), (13.) Slawomir Choczaj, (14.) Tomasz Choczaj, (15.) Piotr Mikula .

fh|South Africa

(1.) David Staniforth (gk), (3.) Ken Forbes, (4.) Craig Jackson .

fh|Spain

(1.) Bernardino Herrera (gk), (2.) Santi Freixa, (4.) Marc Garcia-Cascon, (5.) Francisco "Kiko" Fábregas , (17.) Albert Sala, (18.) Rodrigo Garza, (22.) Francisco Cortes (gk), and (23.) David Alegre. Head Coach: Maurits Hendriks.

tandings

Pool A

----hockeybox
date = 3th/4th place 14:30 Match 41
team1 = fh-rt|IND
team2 = fh|PAK
score = 2–4 (1–1)
goals1 = Prabjoth Singh 22' Gagan Ajit Singh 59'
goals2 = Muhammad Shabbir 15' Sohail Abbas 43' (pc) Shakeel Abassi 55' Kashif Jawwad 69'
umpires = Hamish Jamson (GBR) Xavier Adell (ESP)----hockeybox
date = 1st/2nd place 17:00 Match 42
team1 = fh-rt|NED
team2 = fh|ESP
score = 2–1 (0–1)
goals1 = Teun de Nooijer 44' Ronald Brouwer 71' (golden goal)
goals2 = Santi Freixa 31'
umpires = John Wright (RSA) Satinder Kumar (IND)

Final Rankings

Remarks

* The first six (Netherlands, Spain, Pakistan, India, Great Britain, and New Zealand) qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
* South Africa had to wait until the verdict of the CAS, after a protest by hosting nation Greece in February claiming a berth in the Olympics on grounds that they are the host country. The hosts had failed to win a place in the event despite being given two chances by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The first option for Greece to gain a place at the Olympics was by qualifying for the 2003 Men's Hockey European Nations Cup, held last year in Barcelona. Greece did not qualify for this tournament but there was a second opportunity for the country, which required Greece to beat Canada, the lowest ranked in the Olympic qualifier, in a best of three play-off competition. Greece participated under protest but lost the series 2-0.
* On May 20, 2004, the FIH confirmed the participation of South Africa's Men's Team in the Athens Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport turned down Greece's appeal. South Africa thus became the 12th and final team to qualify for the event.

Awards

"Topscorers"
# Sohail Abbas (Pakistan) → 9 goals
# Greg Nicol (South Africa) → 8 goals
# Deepak Thakur (India) → 7 goals "Best Player"
# Francisco Fábregas (Spain)"Best Young Player"
# Floris Evers (Netherlands)"Best Goalkeeper"
# Simon Mason (Great Britain)

References

* [http://www.fihockey.org/vsite/vcontent/page/custom/0,8510,1181-146560-163776-28732-111321-custom-item,00.html Overview on FIH-site]
* [http://in.rediff.com/sports/madrid04.htm Rediff]