San Diego, California: The Canadian Men’s National Field Hockey Team has qualified for the International Hockey Federation’s World League Round 3 with a 4-1 victory over Russia on Sunday to earn third place at World League Round 2.
Canada and Russia met in the third place match, which carried heavy implications as the top three teams of the tournament earned spots in the next stage of the World League competition.
Ireland and Austria, who finished first and second respectively at World League Round 2, also move on to World League 3 in Bueno Aires, Argentina from June 3–14, 2015.
With the victory and a place in World League 3, Canada now has another chance to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. If Canada finishes in the top three of its World League 3 event, it will qualify for Rio.
The Canadians can also qualify for Rio by winning gold at the 2015 Pan American Games to be held in Toronto this summer.
Malaysia, Poland, and Japan are also headed to World League Round 3 after qualifying in a separate World League 2 competition earlier this year. Three more teams are set to qualify through the final World League 2 event currently taking place in Cape Town, South Africa. The nine qualifiers will be joined at World League 3 by the top eleven ranked teams in the world at the time of World League 3.
There will be two World League 3 events of ten teams each (one in Argentina, where Canada will compete; the other in Belgium from June 20 to July 5, 2015). Six teams, the top three from each tournament, will earn spots at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.