No more joint World Cups, say FIH

Australian players celebrating after beating Holland 6-1 to win the World Cup. - EPA

THE HAGUE: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) are not planning on having the men’s and women’ event run simultaneously in the coming years.

FIH president Leandro Negre said that Holland had done a “fantastic job” in organising the event that it is difficult to see another nation emulating it.

“This was a great tournament with plenty of excitement on and off the pitch.

“More than 250,000 tickets were sold and each day we a near capacity crowd at the Kyocera Stadium which seats 15,000 spectators.

“Running a tournament over 16 days is a hectic task but one that the Dutch completed with ease and incident free,” he added.

Negre said he doubted that other nations would bid for both events in the near future, as the escalating cost would be a deterrent.

“The cost of running a 16-team event for the men and women will be huge. So we do not plan to have it again. Furthermore, from a marketing point of view we would rather have two different nations holding the tournament at different times.

“The game is growing in popularity and we see this through the extensive media coverage during the tournament. Over 150 countries broadcasted the matches live and with online screening the numbers were huge,” he said.

The next World Cup for the men will be held in New Delhi in 2018 while England will host the women’s event.

Australia retained their title after a 6-1 win over Holland. Argentina finished third beating England 2-0.

In the women’s event, the title went to hosts Holland while Australia and Argentina finished second and third place respectively.

ROLL OF HONOUR
Best Player of the Tournament:	Mark Knowles (Aus)
Top Goal Scorer:	Gonzalo Peilliat (Arg) - 10 goals
Best Goalkeeper:	Jaap Stockman (Hol)
Best Young Player of the Tournament:	Jeremy Hayward (Aus)
Best Goal of the Tournament:	Sebastian Dockier (Bel) - against Germany