Lausanne (Switzerland): The Indoor Pan American Cup 2024 came to an end this week with Argentina men and USA women winning the gold medals and securing their spots in the FIH Hockey Indoor World Cups 2025. With a second available slot in the men’s competition, Trinidad & Tobago, winners of the silver medal in the event also joined Los Leones in qualifying for the World Cup.
In the men’s competition, Argentina, USA, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and Canada competed in the league stage. Argentina topped the group, winning all four matches, followed by USA in second with three wins and a loss. Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana also qualified for the semi-final finishing third and fourth respectively.
Argentina dominated Guyana in the first semifinal, winning 10-0, with Gaston Rodriguez and Elen Eleicegui scoring hat-tricks, sealing a spot in the final as well as gaining them entry into the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup 2025. USA and Trinidad & Tobago played in a thrilling 11-goal thriller in the second semifinal with the Caribbean nation edging the tie and qualifying for their third ever FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup, the FIH informed in a release on Monday.
Argentina won the final 5-2, with Agustin Ceballos scoring a hat-trick to lead the South American side to the gold medal for the second straight edition! Agustin Ceballos top-scored in the tournament, scoring 12 goals for Argentina.
In the women’s competition, the United States, Argentina, Canada and Uruguay competed in the league stage. The United States went unbeaten in the league stage, winning all three of their matches, with Argentina finishing second, Canada in third and Uruguay in fourth. The United States won the first semi-final 5-0 against Uruguay securing a spot in the finals, while Argentina beat home team Canada 6-2 in the second semifinal.
The final saw USA take on Argentina in a repeat of the opening match of the tournament, where USA dominated Argentina with a 7-1 win. With a place in the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup 2025 up for grabs for the winner of the finals, a much closer encounter unfolded.
USA took an early 2-goal lead, but throughout the game, the lead changed hands multiple times and at the end of regulation time, both sides were tied at five goals each, resulting in a shoot-out. USA were perfect in the shoot-out winning 3-2, grabbing the gold medal and securing the only available slot from Pan America, at the FIH Indoor Hockey Women’s World Cup 2025. The 15-year-old Reese D’Ariano was the star of the show in the women’s tournament, top-scoring with 16 goals for gold medalists USA.
–IANS