Spain

Lausanne, Switzerland: In exactly one month, on July 1, the best players in the world will start the greatest show amongst the women’s events organised under the banner of the International Hockey Federation (FIH): the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup! The 15th edition of FIH’s flagship event will be staged in Terrassa, Spain, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Terrassa Olympic Stadium was the hockey venue for the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. The Wagener Stadium, located in Amstelveen, on the outskirts of Amsterdam, has hosted numerous top-flight matches including World Cups, European Championships or FIH Hockey Pro League encounters. The magnificent draw ceremony held on 17 February 2022 in Terrassa, at the National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia, produced four really exciting Pools: Pool A: Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Chile Pool B: England, New Zealand, India, China Pool C: Argentina, Spain, Korea, Canada Pool D: Australia, Belgium, Japan, South Africa The opening match will see hosts Spain taking on Canada, on 1 July, in Terrassa. The excitement among the players is mounting! Maria López (ESP) says the team “feels so excited because for us it's an incredible experience to play at home, with our friends and families cheering for us!”. Phumelela Mbande and Bernadette Coston (RSA) focus on “developing our own brand of hockey, to then playing it consistently at an international stage.” Jane Claxton (AUS) tells about the eagerness of the Hockeyroos to “finally joining back to the world! We're just thrilled to be able to be traveling again and participating on the international stage.” Eunbi Cheon (KOR) wishes for a better performance this time: “In 2018, we had players injured. But now we’re all ready to go, so at the moment we are very confident about being able to show our best.” Natalie Sourisseau (CAN) thinks “it's going to be a really great tournament because it's just a chance to showcase ourselves and showcase our team”. The officials are ready …

27 May, 2022: Spain have lodged an appeal against the independent Judicial Committee’s decision in respect of a breach of the World Rugby eligibility regulation in the context of Europe region Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifiers. Formal submissions by the Union have been received following a short extension of the appeal deadline. On 5 May, an independent Judicial Committee determined that Spain breached the World Rugby Eligibility regulation by fielding Gavin van den Berg in two Rugby World Cup 2023 qualification matches. The sanction imposed by the committee included a fine and points deduction resulting in Spain no longer qualifying for Rugby World Cup 2023 in France. The Union has appealed the committee’s decision and sanction. An independent Appeal Committee comprising Wang Shao Ing (Chair), Adam Casselden SC and John Langford will consider the appeal with the hearing date to be confirmed in due course. CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za International/. Spain to appeal independent judicial committee decision Submission Details Author: World Rugby from World Rugby. More Info link: Images: For a high res version of THIS image please contact World Rugby Facebook: Twitter: …

27 May 2022 – Matt Sates found himself in a familiar position on top of the podium after claiming another gold medal on the second night of racing at the second leg of the Mare Nostrum series in Barcelona on Thursday. The 18-year-old South African claimed two golds on Wednesday night and added a third in the 200m individual medley in Spain. Sates finished over a body-length ahead of the chasing pack, reaching the finish in 1:58.31 with Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches second in 2:00.30 and Italian Alberto Razzetti third in 2:00.41. Fellow teenager Pieter Coetzé claimed two silver medals on Thursday. He finished second in the 50m backstroke in 24.78 seconds with American Michael Andrew taking gold in 24.64. The Pretoria swimmer then finished second in the 200m backstroke in 1:57.85 with Britain’s Luke Greenbank taking the title in 1:56.88. Also taking silver on Thursday was budding breaststroker Lara van Niekerk. Having dipped under the 30-second mark with a meeting record at the opening leg of the series in Monaco last weekend, the 19-year-old from Pretoria finished second in the 50m breaststroke in 30.35, with Germany’s Anna Elendt taking gold in 30.10. “I’m super-happy about my silver medal tonight,” she said afterwards. “I’ve definitely learnt a lot about the 50, some mistakes that I made – so next time I can work on those mistakes to fix them but overall it was just so much fun.” Van Niekerk was particularly pleased with the result after missing out on the A final in the 100m breaststroke a day earlier. “Not having the best 100m yesterday, to be able to come back and have a good 50 was really a good experience – and nice to know that one day can go badly and then the next day can be totally different and go super-well, so I’m really happy.” Meanwhile, veteran Chad le Clos just missed out on a podium spot in the 200m butterfly. The 30-year-old former Olympic champion led the race early on but ran out of steam to finish fourth in 1:56.38. Hungary’s …

26 May 2022 - Maritzburg teenager Matt Sates defeated an Olympic champion on his way to winning two more gold medals at the second leg of the Mare Nostrum swimming series in Barcelona on Wednesday. The 18-year-old was once again in sensationally speedy form, claiming both 400m individual medley and 200m freestyle golds – both in personal best times. Sates claimed the 400IM title in 4:11.58 – over a second faster than a few days ago in Monaco – finishing ahead of Hungarian David Verraszto (4:13.54) and Britain's Max Litchfield (4:16.21). In doing so, he came within .36 of a second of Laszlo Cseh's meeting record set 14 years ago. Sates was back in action in the 200m freestyle where he came up against Britain's Olympic champion Tom Dean, who had set a meeting record in the morning heats. Undaunted by the challenge, Sates's characteristic powerful finish saw him edging out the Tokyo gold medallist, finishing in an even quicker time of 1:45.91 – yet another meet record. Dean was second in 1:46.27 with Japan's Katsuhiro Matsumoto third in 1:46.46. "I'm super-happy, coming from the four golds from the last leg – obviously I wanted to still try and carry on the momentum from that," said Sates afterwards. "I'm very happy to gain another two and keeping the streak going, especially racing people at such a high standard." As for beating Dean in the 200m freestyle, Sates added: "Doing the 200 free later against the Olympic champion – I was super-happy to be in that race with him and to get the win. So I couldn't be happier with the momentum and how the race turned out. I'm now looking forward to tomorrow. I've got the 200IM – that will be my main race to focus on so hopefully that goes as well as the other ones." Meanwhile, the other South African medallist on the night was fellow teenager Pieter Coetzé. Just like he did in Monaco four days ago, the Pretoria swimmer claimed a bronze in the 100m backstroke. The race was won by Italian Thomas Ceccon in 53.18 with Japan's …