News The Japan are the latest team to qualify for the women’s hockey tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has confirmed The Japanese had their place in Brazil confirmed because Australia and New Zealand qualified for the final of the Oceania Cup, which takes place on Sunday (25 October) The winner will qualify for the Olympic Games as continental champions, while the loser, whether Australia or New Zealand, will qualify as a result of their ranking at the Hockey World League semi-finals This opened up a qualification spot that Japan has secured as the highest-rank team at the Hockey World League semi-finals that had not already qualified They finished sixth in Antwerp, Belgium, while Spain finished sixth in their homeland, in Valencia However, Japan qualify ahead of Spain as they higher in the world rankings Japan join 10  teams already qualified for Rio 2016: Republic of Korea, Great Britain, China, Germany, Argentina, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, USA and India The final berth will be decided at the African Hockey Championships from 23 October to 1 November 2015 Follow the race to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games across all sports    Rio2016 com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games) The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC) Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota