England right for top hockey events: Sports Minister
England's successful bid to host the 2015 EuroHockey Championships is further evidence of the renewed faith in the nation's ability to stage major events, according to Sports Minister Hugh Robertson.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: March 22, 2012 01:31 PM IST
England's successful bid to host the 2015 EuroHockey Championships is further evidence of the renewed faith in the nation's ability to stage major events, according to Sports Minister Hugh Robertson.
England's 2015 bid chiefs discovered on Wednesday that they had beaten four rival bids to stage both the men's and women's Hockey tournaments at the Olympic Lee Valley Centre.
The EuroHockey Championships will be the first major competition held in the Park after this summer's Olympic Games in London.
It is latest in a long list of events coming to the UK after 2012, among them the 2015 Rugby World Cup, 2017 World Athletics Championships and 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Robertson believes that is concrete proof that London 2012 has secured the trust of governing bodies after a series of high-profile PR disasters damaged the UK's sporting reputation.
"If there's one thing above all else that London 2012 has shown, it's that people now trust us to deliver on what we promised," he said.
"Clock back to early last decade - the Millennium Dome, Wembley Stadium and then Picketts Lock.
"With Picketts Lock we won the right to stage the 2005 World Athletics Championships but couldn't build a stadium to host it. The reputation of British sport was absolutely on the floor.
"What London 2012 has proved is that the most complicated project in sport is here, on time and under budget. London 2012 has already changed the perception of British sport.
"It's transformed the way people look at us. Think about where we were 10 years ago and where we are now."