The line-up of qualifiers for the Olympic Games was completed over the weekend with a series of dramatic ties around the world with plenty of European success.

The most dramatic tie was the Irish women earning their place at the Games for the very first time after two games led to no goals against Canada with the ticket decided by a shoot-out.

The hosts came back from 3-1 down to win 4-3 in sudden death with Roisin Upton – playing with a broken wrist – and goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran providing the heroics in front of over 6,100 fans.

Chloe Watkins was another star and she was delighted to finally qualify having missed out on Rio by the width of a post in a shoot-out.

“When we found ourselves in a shoot-out, it was here we go again!” she said. “Flashbacks from 2015 were coming into my head – there was no way we were going to leave it out there again. The game was tighter than we thought. Things never play out as you plan but we had so much heart, so much belief in ourselves and weren’t going to give up this again.”

Great Britain’s women claimed a 2-1 win over Chile on Sunday, giving them a 5-1 victory on aggregate to keep alive the dream of successfully defending the Olympic title that they won at Rio 2016.

Later in the day, Great Britain’s men joined their women on the plane to Tokyo thanks largely to Alan Forsyth, who bagged a hat-trick as the hosts won 5-2 against Malaysia on the day and 9-3 on aggregate.

Germany’s women also booked their place at Tokyo 2020 with a dominant and impressive 7-0 win over Italy. The earlier game had seen Die Danas run out as slightly more tentative 2-0 winners, but the 9-0 aggregate score underlined their superiority over the lower-ranked European neighbours. Germany’s men followed up their 5-0 first leg win over Austria on Saturday with a 5-3 triumph in Sunday’s second game to earn their Olympic berth.

India’s men and women and New Zealand’s men also qualified this weekend. The weekend before saw the Dutch men see off Pakistan, Spain’s men and women were successful against France and Korea, respectively, along with China’s women and Australia’s men.

Invitations will be sent out in the coming weeks to confirm entry to the competition; should a nation turn down their invite, the next best ranked side will subsequently be invited.