Rain brings in more business

Thursday's downpour was rather heavy and it kept raining with short intervals. But the person happy with the weather, was the manager of the World Cup souvenirs shop at the Kyocera Stadium complex. The shop sold 300 umbrellas in 15 minutes. But they have dropped the price of large sized mascot 'Stockey' from a very steep 100 Euros to somewhat 'less steep' 75 Euros. But the items flying off the shelves are small mascots, bracelets, shoelaces, flip-flops and, of course, umbrellas!

Amsterdam will host EuroHockey in 2017

Even as the World Cup progresses, there was the announcement that Amsterdam would host the 2-17 EuroHockey Championships for both men and women. Netherlands has twice hosted the event — in Amsterdam (1983) and in Amstelveen (2009). The most successful team in EuroHockey is Germany having won eight of the 14 editions, while Netherlands have won three. Spain (2) and England have won others.

This brings the total number of major hockey events staged in Amsterdam to 17. Amsterdam, which has 10 clubs, has been a hockey city for years and it hosted Olympics, when the sport returned to Olympics after a gap of 16 years.

Malaysia, a convenient hockey host in Asia

Malaysia has always been a willing and excellent promoter of hockey in Asia. It was all thanks to Sultan Azlan Shah, a great benefactor of Asian and Malaysian hockey. The Sultan, president of the Asian Hockey Federation from 1997, and a member of the FIH Board, passed away on May 28, three days before the start this World Cup. He started the Sultan Azlan Shah, Asia's longest running international event, in 1983 and it is now approaching its 25th edition, having completed 23 stagings. Malaysia has hosted two World Cups and four of the nine Asia Cups.