Black Sticks with high hopes for the 2011 Champions Trophy ahead
The National women hockey team for New Zealand is all set to play with the top ranked nations in the year’s forthcoming mega event, 2011 Women’s Champions Trophy. This tournament will be the last challenge prior to the 2012 London Olympic Games.
A total of world’s best eight women hockey teams will group up to fight for the Champions title in Amsterdam from June 25- July 3, Netherlands.
Black Sticks will face-off the Hockeyroos after giving a tough time the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) finale. Moreover, they recently won the Test series against Korea and Japan followed by a drawn series that was played against the World Number One, Argentina.
Currently standing on 7th among the eight teams, New Zealand has plans to step up in ranking by the end of the event. On April 23, the Black Sticks' Head Coach, Mark Hager, announced an 18-member squad that will travel to Holland, showing the
best of their abilities. Previously, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) planned the championship to only feature top six teams, but later it sent an invitation to China and New Zealand to make the six-nation to an eight-nation challenge.
Hager said that this appearance is a bonus for them and he expects to at least finish-up at the top-six among the eight.
"These are the players who have been most consistent recently, so it's a strong team and our form has been mostly encouraging. But it's a challenging situation we face now. We had a good finish to 2010 and a good start to this year but now we have to step it
up against the top six teams in the world,” he added.
According to the coach, the Black Sticks women have only 12 months left prior to the 2012 London Olympics to prove what they are capable of, with a consistently remarkable result against the world’s top teams.
Moreover, this championship will also provide the team with world ranking points, allowing an easier Olympic draw over a high-ranked performance. Despite the fact that the team is not much stronger to end-up with a higher rank in this championship as well
as in the 2011 Oceania Cup, however, there are chances for the team to drop down from their current seed.
The Black Sticks have been enlisted in the Pool B along with Germany, Netherlands and Australia, whereas Pool A includes China, Argentina, Korea and England.
New Zealand’s co-captain, Kayla Sharland, added-in her own suggestion by saying that if the team successfully clears the pool rounds with two wins. They can end-up among the top-four teams.
"It won't be easy, but at the same time we will have our strongest team on field and we have had some good results lately. The training and competition over the last few months has been pretty intense, and we need to keep training hard over the next couple
of months to make sure we get the results we want. The motivation and drive from the team to perform is evident," she added.
Recently, the team is engaged to go on a Europe tour in order to prepare for the championship. These women will be playing their warm-up matches against China, Netherlands and Germany. Moreover, the team is to play a Test series against Japan next month.
The 18-member squad that was declared by the coach on April 23, consist of Gemma Flynn, Emily Naylor, Clarissa Eshuis, Kayla Sharland, Cathryn Finlayson, Anita Punt, Lucy Talbot, Charlotte Harrison, Sally Rutherford, Anna Thorpe, Krystal Forgesson, Ella
Gunson, Bianca Russell, Stacey Michelsen, Alana Millington, Sophie Devine, Samantha Harrison and Katie Glynn.
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