Ireland will face Belgium, India, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand in their Olympic Games pool phase in Paris this summer having secured qualification yesterday.
All five opponents are raked above the Irish in the FIH World Rankings with the top two teams in each of the groups going through to the semi finals.
That will not be uppermost in the minds of players, management and the wider sport though with qualification being the golden prize and being able to play in the most visible event in the world the main prize.
This is the third time that the Irish Men’s team have qualified, and the first since Rio in 2016. last time out in Tokyo it was the turn of the Women and they grabbed the moment in the spotlight to rewrite the way that the sport was considered here.
Sadly the hope of a double success this time around in as close to a home games as we are likely to get for another generation did not come off, with the Women’s team falling at the final qualification hurdle to Great Britain over the weekend.
Anne McCormack, the CEO of Hockey Ireland will be joining us on stage at The Sporting Year Ahead with Teneo at the Alex Hotel in Dublin this Thursday morning to recount the weekend and look ahead.
Join us for our first major event of the New Year when we will gather with a host of sporting and business leaders to look ahead to what 2024 holds in store.
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