Junior World Cup to be held every 2 years, says FIH

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Saturday announced that henceforth the Junior World Cup will be held every two years but the world body seemed clueless about the host nation and exact timing of the next edition.

The Junior World Cup was last held in 2016 at Lucknow, where India went on to lift the title and as per the new decision the event should have been hosted this year itself.

But the FIH said as the decision was taken in its Executive Board meeting only on Friday, they are yet to figure out the host nation and exact timing of the next edition.

"The Junior World Cup will be held every second year from now on. We need to support youth in sport and give every generation a chance to participate in Junior World Cup. If we don't, we lose a generation of players," FIH CEO Thierry Weil said at a press conference here on Saturday.

The FIH CEO, however, was clueless when asked about when and where the next edition of the Junior World Cup and Senior World Cup will be held.

"I think it is in 2021, but please let us confirm that to you before putting out a wrong message," Weil said.

Weil said they already invited bids for the next editions of Junior and Senior World Cup and a decision on the matter will be taken next year.

"We had already presented the plan for selection (of venues) for the 2022 World Cup. We have launched the (invitation of) bids. We have set two windows in July 2022 and in January 2023. The bidding process will finish in February. Then we will collect all the documents," he said.

"We will start bids for potential candidates for the Junior World Cup soon. This decision will also have to be taken in 2019."
"We will also work on a new ranking system that is simple and allows every country to collect points. That's quite important."
"But we will work on a plan to bring the game back to Pakistan."