Indian women hockey team qualifies for Olympics after 36 years

New Delhi Indian womens hockey team will return to the Olympics after a long gap of 36 years as it qualified today for next years Rio Games courtesy England making it to the final of the ongoing EuroHockey Championships in LondonEnglands semifinal victory over Spain coming after the Netherlands win over Germany in the other semifinal in the European Championships freed one quota place as both the finalists have already qualified for the Olympic GamesIndian womens hockey team in 2013 Pic AFPIndia took the quota place on the basis of its fifthplace finish in the womens Hockey World League Semifinals in Antwerp Belgium last monthInternational Hockey Federation FIH confirmed that Indian womens team has qualified for the Rio GamesIndia qualified after England defeated Spain in the semifinals of the Unibet EuroHockey Championships in London which ensured that the only teams The Netherlands and England as Great Britain who can now win the event have already qualified for Rio through the Hockey World League SemiFinals the FIH said in a statementThe winner of the EuroHockey Championships will qualify for the 2016 Olympics as European continental champions opening up a further qualification spot which India secure as the team who ranked highest at the Hockey World League SemiFinals not already qualified it saidIndian womens team now join nine other teams who have already qualified for 2016 Rio Games Korea as Asian Games champions Argentina as Pan Am Games champions and Great Britain China Germany Netherlands Australia New Zealand and the USA through the Hockey World League SemiFinalsIndian womens hockey team last featured in an Olympics in the 1980 Moscow Games where they finished at a respectable fourth positionHockey India applauded the historic achievement of the womens hockey team It is a proud moment for Hockey India and the whole country We have been waiting for this for the last 36 years and this achievement is the sweetest and the most memorable among all our previous feats in recent times HI President Narinder Batra said in a releaseI congratulate all the players and coaching staff who made this dream real and this achievement also shows their commitment toward their responsibilities Hockey India thanks all the coaches who trained these players at their respective academies parents sponsors and the entire hockey fraternity who continuously motivated the players and without their support we could not have achieved this success I am sure the girls will make us proud at the Olympics he saidHockey India Secretary General Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad said The Olympics qualification is indeed a great achievement for the Indian Women Team and the Indian hockey fraternity The players and the Coaching Staff have done a commendable job and they are still training hard for the 2016 Olympic Games Hockey India is doing its part and fulfilling all the requirements of the teamI congratulate the whole team and the people who have been working hard behind the scene to achieve this success However the job is still half done and the team now has to set a new aim of clinching the first Olympic medal he saidIndia are the 10th team to qualify for Rio Olympics The last two participating teams will be confirmed in the 2015 Africa Cup for Nations in Egypt and 2015 Oceania Cup in New Zealand in NovemberThe Indian womens team will commence its outing from August 7 in the Rio Olympics