Japan Women Qualify For Rio 2016 Olympics Hockey Event

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has confirmed on Thursday that Japan women have qualified for the hockey event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. (Read more hockey stories here)

Japan qualified after both Australia and New Zealand qualified for the Oceania Cup final which takes place on Sunday, October 25. The winner of the Oceania Cup will qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games as Oceania continental champions, while the loser of the final, whether Australia or New Zealand, will qualify from their ranking at the Hockey World League Semi-Final.

As a result, this opened up a further qualification spot which Japan secure as the team who ranked highest at the Hockey World League Semi-Finals not already qualified.

Japan finished sixth at the Hockey World League Semi-Final in Antwerp, Belgium, while Spain finished sixth in their homeland, in Valencia. However, Japan qualify ahead of Spain as they rank above them in the FIH world rankings.

Japan women join the 10 teams already qualified for Rio 2016. In addition to Australia and New Zealand, Korea qualified as Asian Games champions, USA as Pan Am Games champions, Great Britain as European champions (qualification through England's victory at the EuroHockey Championships 2015) and China, Germany, Argentina, Netherlands and India through the Hockey World League Semi-Finals.

The remaining Olympic berth (women) will not be finalised until after the African Hockey Championships, which take place from October 23 to November 1, 2015.

(Win inputs from FIH)