All roads lead to London as Olympic Qualifers take centre stage

With all Leinster fixtures postponed for the coming weekend players and hockey fans alike will be heading up to UCD to roar on the Greenmachine in their quest for a spot at this summer’s London Olympics.

Securing home advantage for the Men’s Tournament has been a major boost for the Men and the event is proving popular with the hockey public already with tickets selling extremely well – indeed the Korea match has just completely sold out today. Ireland will be lead by Ronan Gormley again while Pembroke can count 5 ex-players in the 18 man squad.[singlepic id=921 w=540 h=440 float=]
The ‘Electric Ireland Road to London‘ Men’s Tournament runs from March 10th to 18th in UCD – Ireland will face Russia, Ukraine, Korea, Chile and Malaysia, with only one team to qualify. Korea will be the team to beat, entering the tournament as the sixth-ranked team in the FIH World Ranking. There will be plenty happening besides the hockey to keep supporters entertained between matches including face painting, Balloon modelling, music, pitch side cafés and bar, and even a ‘best dressed’ competition.

The Ladies will travel to Antwerp, Belgium for their Olympic Qualifier – their assignment being even tougher – they will face France, Spain, Russia, Mexico and hosts Belgium.

The Men’s Tournament website is here » while the Ladies can be found here »

Tickets
Go to www.hockey.ie to purchase tickets »

Coverage
If you can’t make it to UCD, live streaming coverage will be available here »
RTE will show the Final on March 18th should Ireland make it.
Follow @irishhockey on Twitter for up-to-the-minute info and lots more details.

Finally – Best of luck to both Irish teams from everyone in Pembroke!