CHENNAI: The Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) has revealed the possibility of keeping a standalone event to decide the continent’s 2024 Olympic berth if the Asian Games doesn’t go ahead within a specified timeframe.
The winners of the Asian Games in both men and women get a direct berth to the Olympics so it’s an important event as far as hockey is concerned.
With China actively pursuing a Zero Covid policy, they have already pushed back the Asian Games once. It was supposed to be held from September 10-25 but the Organising Committee, in an announcement two weeks ago, indefinitely pushed it back.
With new dates yet to be decided, the AHF is closely monitoring the situation.
“The Asian Games is an Olympic qualifier for the continent, but we still have enough time in hand. If the Asian Games Games are postponed to September 2023, we will be in the same position to conduct the qualifiers. We are closely monitoring the developments,” AHF CEO Tayyab Ikram told in a press conference ahead of the Asia Cup, scheduled to begin in Jakarta from May 23.