News The women’s hockey competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games has three new teams to add to its line-up, after Great Britain, China and Germany finished in the top-three in the first semi-final of the Hockey World League The semi-final began on 10 June and finished this weekend, on Sunday (21) in Valencia, Spain The three teams join Asian champions the Republic of Korea, bringing the total number of countries qualified for the women’s competition to four so far In the World League women’s competition, 20 participating countries are divided into two groups of ten to compete in two separate semi-finals – the three top-placed teams from each semi-final win a spot at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games In this the first of the two women’s semi-finals, Great Britain won after defeating China by 2-0 Both teams were awarded places at the Olympics, along with third-placed team Germany, who defeated Argentina by 3-1 in a shoot-out after regular time finished in a 1-1 draw Heroine of the hour, goalkeeper Kristina Reynolds said: “It was just amazing team spirit We wanted that ticket and everyone fought until the end I don’t enjoy the shoot-outs at all My legs go weak and everything, but I know I have to stop the ball for my team They are very good in the shoot-out and make me feel safe Going to Rio was the most important thing and we did it!”  Goalkeeper Kristina Reynolds was key in clinching Germany’s qualifying win after the game went to shoot-outs (Photo: Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images) Last weekend (13-14 June), Germany, Argentina and the Netherlands confirmed their Olympic slots in the first semi-final of the men's tournament, held in Buenos Aires The second men’s and women’s semi-finals take place simultaneously and are already underway, running from the 20 June to 5 July in the city of Antwerp, Belgium These semi-finals will yield six more countries for the Olympic Games: three in the men’s category and three in the women’s As Brazil will not be eligible to take up its allocated host-country spot in the women’s competition, having failed to meet the required performance and classification criteria, a further women’s spot will be allocated via the World League to the country that obtains the 7th best result in the overall tournament In all, 24 teams (12 men’s and 12 women’s) will qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic hockey competition, and all 24 will be have been decided by the end of 2015 The Olympic slots reserved for teams from Asia were won by India in the men’s, and the Republic of Korea in the women’s categories In addition to those teams who will qualify via the World League (at least six from the men’s and seven from the women’s tournament), four other continental champions (from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Oceania) will also qualify to compete in the Rio 2016 Games In the event that the winners of the continental championships have already secured Olympic spots, the continental vacancies will be reallocated to the highest-placed teams from the Hockey World League who have not already qualified As for Brazil’s host country slot for the Rio 2016 men’s hockey competition: after failing to finish 2014 among the 30 top-ranked countries in the world, the Brazilian team must finish in the first six at the Pan American Games to be eligible to take up their place at Rio 2016 If they are unable to do so, the vacant spot will be transferred to the 7th best-placed men’s team from the World League – in the same way as in the women’s competition    China's Na Wang and Briton, Joie Leigh on their way to Olympic qualification (Photo: Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images)  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