News The conclusion of the hockey World League semi-finals in Antwerp, Belgium, this weekend (4-5 July) has confirmed the qualification of a further five teams for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games In the men’s tournament, Australia, Belgium and Great Britain finished in the top three places (in that order), confirming their place at next year’s Olympic Games, alongside Germany, Argentina and Netherlands, who secured the first three positions in the Buenos Aires side of the semi-finals in June India, who finished fourth in Antwerp, had already qualified for Rio 2016 by winning gold at last year’s Asian Games Another four places will be decided by continental qualifying tournaments (Americas, Europe, Africa and Oceania) while Brazil can still confirm their place as host nation by finishing in the top six at the Pan-American Games, which start in Toronto this Friday (10 July) If Brazil fail to reach this standard, according to the rules, their place will be passed down to the best-placed team from the World League semi-finals that has yet to qualify, which would be Canada, who finished fourth in the Buenos Aires tournament The Pan-American Games will serve as the continental qualifier for the Americas, while the Euro Championships in August, and the Oceania Cup and Africa Cup for Nations, both in October, will qualify their respective continental champions The Australia women's hockey team will compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Photo: Getty Images/Robert Cianflone) The Netherlands won the women’s World League semi-final in Antwerp, with the Republic of Korea, and Australia in second and third place, respectively The Koreans had already qualified for Rio by winning gold at the last year’s Asian Games, and as Brazil had not achieved the required standard to qualify as host nation, Argentina will be in Rio, along with the three sides that finished ahead of them in the Valencia semi-final in June: Great Britain, China and Germany The American continental winner will be decided at the Pan-American Games in Toronto, while the European qualifier will be decided at the Euro Championships in London in August The Oceania Cup in New Zealand and Africa Cup for Nations in Egypt, both in October, will determine the qualifiers from those continents Qualifying for the Olympic and Paralympic Games is a continual process and the final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games) Places are recommended by national federations or the sporting organisations of each country and its respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee, who will decide the final places