The International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced that Chile's national women's selection will replace Canada in the inaugural edition of the FIH Women's Hockey Nations Cup to be played in Valencia, Spain, from 11 to 17 December this year.
Following Canada's decision to withdraw from the next FIH Women's Cup, the Chilean team, which over the past year has shown a rapid rise in international hockey, has been chosen to replace them since according to the world ranking, Chilenas are the following best classified, without considering the teams that are currently participating.
The Chilean team has been increasingly strengthened during 2022 and has a great opportunity to continue to do so in the Cup of Nations, where a victory can lead to the promotion of the FIH Hockey Pro League.
Chile's first major performance of the year took place at the 2022 Women's Pan American Cup, where it ended up subchampion behind Argentina and secured a place in the FIH Spanish and Dutch Women's World Cup. The Chilean team was featured in the Women's World Cup, with excellent performances. After all, who can forget the scenes in which Chile played its first game in the World Cup and won its first victory against the current silver medalists, Ireland?
Camila Caram, captain of the "Diablas" said about the instance that "we are very happy as a team to be able to participate in this tournament. We very much regret Canada's absence, but it gives us a tremendous opportunity to show our level of play. We hope to be able to live up to the game and these tremendous rivals that we will face that will participate in the tournament."
Last week, the Chilean women's team added another important achievement by defeating the current World Cup silver medalists and current Pro League champions, Argentina, at the end of the XII South American Games Asunción 2022, and winning the gold medal!
Chile will now take the place of Canada in Group B together with India, Japan and South Africa, while Group A is made up of the hosts of Spain, Ireland, Italy and Korea.
