The National Hockey Stadium in UCD will this summer be the host to two huge international hockey events; the FIH Champions Challenge Women & the UCD Mens 4 Nations Cup.

The competition which is sponsored by ESB, will run from the 18th to the 26th June and will include the top hockey teams from around the world, some of whom have already qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

For the women’s event it includes the teams ranked 9th to 16th in the world rankings. The eight teams involved will participate in this bi-annual event and will be split into two Pools of four. Following a simple round robin round, all eight teams will then move into a cross-over Quarter Final match, seeded according to their Pool placing.

Two of UCD’s current Scholarship students are represented on the Irish team namely Physiotherapy student Chloe Watkins and Sports and Exercise Management Student Niamh Atcheler.  

New Zealand won the last edition of the Women’s Champions Challenge in 2009 when the event was held in South Africa. With the win, the Black Sticks competed in last year's Samsung Champions Trophy in Nottingham.

Looking to challenge for the crown this year will be South Africa, and Japan, two teams that were medallists in 2009. Both nations are in Pool A where they are joined by USA and Scotland. Pool B features Spain, Azerbaijan, India and Ireland. India earned promotion to the event both by vitue winning the 2009 Champions Challenge II and their end of tournament position at the BDO FIH Indoor World Cup in Argentina. Host nation Ireland were also at the 2009 Champions Challenge II, finishing in third place.

Japan and USA will kick off the event on June 18th in the 10:00 match. The teams will have three days of Pool action before moving onto the Quarter Finals. Losing teams in the Quarter Finals will play in the 5-8 Classification section, while the winners will move into the Semi Finals and the medal rounds.

In conjunction with the FIH Champions Challenge, the UCD Mens 4 Nations Cup which runs from the 20th to the 25th June is not a qualifying event but includes China, Pakistan, France and Ireland and is a significant tournament in preparation for the 2011 European Championships taking place from 20th to 28th of August in the Warsteiner HockeyPark in Moenchengladbach. There is also three Olympic qualifying events scheduled in the first quarter of 2012.At least one thousand spectators per day are expected and around 400 players and officials will be involved in the event.

For a full list of fixtures and ticket prices see http://www.hockey.ie/