Wednesday, September 19, 2012

A TRICKY ONE FOR REVINGTON


Malaysia has been pooled together with Poland, South Korea and Canada in the 2012 Men’s Champions Challenge 1, hosted in Quilmes, Argentina from November 24-December 2.

Group A will see highest-ranked Korea, which holds down the seventh spot in the FIH World Ranking. They are joined by Malaysia, Canada and Poland. 

While Group B will feature host Argentina as the top-seeded team, ranked 10th in the FIH World Ranking. Challenging Argentina in the group will be South Africa, Ireland and Japan.

All eight teams will move onto a quarterfinal game with the first place finishers taking on the last place finishers from the other groups and the second and third place teams playing in a similar cross-over. From there, the winners will move onto the semi-finals and medal games, while the losers will play for placement.

Thus there will be a possibility that Malaysia will play against Ireland in the cross overs and it becomes an interesting match up given that Paul Revington and Arul Selvaraj who used to coach Ireland are now the head honchos in Malaysia.

The tournament will be the first major FIH event after the 2012 London Games and kicks off the next cycle as teams turn their attention from the Olympics to the 2014 World Cup. Three of the eight teams in the competitive field were in London for the Games. Of the trio, Korea was the highest finisher in London, coming in at eighth place. Argentina and South Africa closed the games in 10th and 11th place, respectively.
 
All eyes are sure to be on the Argentina vs. South Africa preliminary round game on the second day of action. The teams met in the bronze medal game of the 2011 edition of the Champions Challenge 1, which South Africa won, 3-1. Argentina exacted revenge for that loss in London, beating the South Africans 6-3 in the preliminary round.

The Champion’s Challenge 1 will give the teams World Ranking points and the winner of the tournament will be automatically qualified for the next edition of the men’s Champions Trophy.

November 24th, 2012
1 Pool A 10:00am Korea KOR - CAN Canada -
2 Pool A 12:30pm Malaysia MAS - POL Poland -
3 Pool B 3:00pm South Africa RSA - JPN Japan -
4 Pool B 5:30pm Argentina ARG - IRL Ireland -
November 25th, 2012
5 Pool A 10:00am Canada CAN - POL Poland -
6 Pool A 12:30pm Malaysia MAS - KOR Korea -
7 Pool B 3:00pm Ireland IRL - JPN Japan -
8 Pool B 5:30pm South Africa RSA - ARG Argentina -
November 27th, 2012
9 Pool A 10:00am Korea KOR - POL Poland -
10 Pool A 12:30pm Canada CAN - MAS Malaysia -
11 Pool B 3:00pm Ireland IRL - RSA South Africa -
12 Pool B 5:30pm Argentina ARG - JPN Japan -
November 29th, 2012
13 Quarterfinal 8:30am 1A - 4B -
14 Quarterfinal 11:30am 2B - 3A -
15 Quarterfinal 2:30pm 2A - 3B -
16 Quarterfinal 5:30pm 1B - 4A -
December 1st, 2012
17 Placement 8:30am Loser 13 - Loser 14 -
18 Placement 11:30am Loser 15 - Loser 16 -
19 Semi-Final 2:30pm Winner 13 - Winner 14 -
20 Semi-Final 5:30pm Winner 15 - Winner 16 -
December 2nd, 2012
21 7-8 Placement 8:30am Loser 17 - Loser 18 -
22 5-6 Placement 11:30am Winner 17 - Winner 18 -
23 Bronze 2:30pm Loser 19 - Loser 20 -
24 Gold 5:30pm Winner 19 - Winner 20 -