Plans announced for Olympic Hockey test event

Some of the world’s best hockey teams have been announced to play in the Visa International Invitational Hockey Tournament, a test event for London 2012 and part of the London Prepares series.

The event, which will take place at the brand new Riverbank Arena on the Olympic Park from 2–6 May, will feature the men’s Australian and German teams, currently ranked number one and two in the world. The current women’s world champions Argentina, as well as both the men’s and women’s British teams, will also be in action.

The tournament will also feature a men’s team from India, and women’s teams from China and Korea, and will give all eight teams the chance to compete in a tournament for the first time in the Olympic Park. The Riverbank Arena, a temporary venue, will be fully completed and will host up to 60,000 spectators over the eight sessions of the tournament.

The Visa International Invitational Hockey Tournament will be used by the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) to test key operations ahead of the Games including the field of play, video referral, timing, scoring and results systems. The event will also be tested alongside six other Olympic test events taking place in the Park at the same time,    

David Luckes, Head of Sport Competition at LOCOG said: 'The Riverbank Arena is one of the most striking venues in the Olympic Park and it is vital that we run an event which will test our field of play, the venue and our workforce before the Games.

'We are delighted to have been able to secure such a strong line-up of team’s for the Visa International Invitational Hockey Tournament and offer the spectators the chance to see world class hockey in the Olympic Park just a few months before the Games.'

Tickets will be on sale for the Visa International Invitational Hockey Tournament in early spring.