Great Britain's women and men have both secured their places at the Paris 2024 Olympics via FIH Qualification tournaments in Valencia and Muscat.
Welsh players Rupert Shipperley, Jacob Draper and Sarah Jones all played critical roles in GB’s qualification journey.
The FIH qualification tournament marked Sarah Jones’ return to the GB matchday squad following a hamstring injury that prevented her participation in December’s Pro League series in Argentina.
In Spain, the Women finished second in their group to tournament hosts Spain to seal a place in the final four.
The GB women eventually beat Ireland 2-1 in the FIH qualifiers bronze-medal match to join Spain and Belgium in obtaining Olympic qualification spots. Sarah Jones put her side ahead to net her 5th international goal for GB and secure the player of the match award.
Meanwhile, the GB men dominated their Olympic qualifying campaign in Oman clocking up 16 goals in their opening three pool matches against Pakistan, Malaysia and China before defeating New Zealand 3-1 in the semi-finals to secure their spot in Paris.
The side had to eventually settle for the silver medal after narrowly losing out to the World Championships Germany 1-0 in the final.
“It was a bit of an eventful tournament especially taking a pretty big fall in the first match but I’m thrilled we managed to pull through and qualify for the Olympics later this year. Bring on Paris!” said Jones, who helped GB win bronze at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
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