Ghana has stepped up preparations to host the 2016 World Hockey League series Round One at the Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium in Accra from September 9-11.

The four-nation tournament will determine the male and female teams that will take a one step closer to the International Hockey Federation's (FIH) World Cup in 2018.

Both male and female national teams from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Namibia, would compete to see who qualifies for the second round of the World League in Valencia, Spain, for the female category and Bangladesh for the male category, both in February 2017.

For the Ghana team, the tournament is an opportunity to build enough ranking points to enable them to qualify for the next Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast, Australia, in April 2018.

The President of the Ghana Hockey Association, Richard Akpokavie, said everything was on course to deliver a successful tournament, and appealed to corporate bodies for financial support to host the contest, which will be Ghana' s first time of playing host to a major hockey event since 2012.

Source : XINHUA