Just two weeks after the FIH President had stated in a Press Conference in Kuala Lumpur that no changes to hockey rules will be done until the 2016 Rio Olympics, there has been a change of heart at the FIH Executive Board meeting last week.
The Executive Board has noe decided decided to implement a 45-second shot clock for all
penalty corners.
This comes about after seeing that the time taken for penalty corners
was gradually increasing, the Executive Board felt this was an important
measure to speed up the game while still giving teams enough time to
prepare for penalty corners.
The rule is set to take effect in time for
the Women’s Hockey World League Round 4 tournament in Argentina.
Another major change on the competition side was the
decision to no longer have extra time at any FIH events. Classification
games that are tied at the end of regulation will go directly into a
shootout.
The Invitational places for the 2014 Champions Trophy were also
announced. Receiving the two invitation places for the men’s Champions
Trophy are Germany and England.
On the women’s side, the two coveted
invitational places go to New Zealand and China.
