Hockey: Champions Trophy gets underway in Nottingham, England
The Hockey Champions Trophy is one of the most important hockey tournaments of the hockey calendar. Six top teams compete in the Hockey Champions Trophy where they play each other in a round-robin format. The host gets the automatic entry into the tournament besides defending Champions, World Champions, and next highest ranked teams from FIH ranking. The last side of the tournament is eliminated and the winner of the Champions challenge is included as a sixth member. Champions Challenge was introduced in 2001 to give a chance to low ranking teams to compete in the Champions Trophy.
2010 version of Champions Trophy will be played in Nottingham, England where Argentina, Netherlands, China, England, Germany and New Zealand will be competing. Nottingham Highfields Sport centre will be hosting the matches from 10th to 18th July, 2010. Nottingham Highfields Sport centre has a capacity of over 3000 spectators and one of the best playing surfaces in the world. This will be the 18th Women Champions Trophy, Australia has won the tournament most times with six titles, Netherlands won it five times, Argentina thrice and Germany, China and South Korea have clinched the title once each.
The Netherlands Women’s Hockey team currently tops the World rankings, and, is one of the favourites to win the Champions trophy. Along with their win in Beijing 2008 Olympics, Netherlands will be eyeing this tournament to gain a moral boosting victory ahead of the World Cup to be played in Argentina next month. Netherlands will be relying mostly on its penalty corner specialist Maartje Paumen, who set up a World Cup record during Beijing Olympics 2008 by scoring 11 goals for her side. The Dutch team will also have the expertise of Naomi van As, 2009 best women hockey player of the year alongside Luciana Aymar of Argentina. The Dutch side will be led by, experienced defender, Janneke Schopman.
The Argentinean Women’s team will be defending its title in Nottingham, where they will be playing to win the title for the third time in a row. Luciana Aymar, finds herself being compared to her country mate legend Maradona, for her strong dribbling skills that can easily dodge defenders. Aymar is the most watched player on the Argentinean side. She is the only player to win FIH Women Player of the Year six times, and, is capable of winning her team a title in Nottingham. The Argentinean team is currently in good touch as they beat Olympic Champions in the Rabo Bank Trophy this month.
The Chinese side with 13 players younger than 25 years is another strong prospect to win the Champions Trophy. Olympic silver medallists China, has a good combination of experienced and young players in its team. Ma Yibo is a tough defender and penalty corner specialist for the side and team Captain Fu Baorong will be the backbone of the Chinese forward line.
The Germans, who are in the reconstruction phase, are hungry to win the title as they didn’t win any of the Champions Trophies since 2006. Natascha Keller, Player of the Year in 1999, veteran player with 350 caps for the nation will be leading the front line of the German attack. Other experienced players in the team are Keller, Barbera Vogel as goalkeeper and captain of the team, Tina Bachman.
The English side currently ranked 7th in the Women’s Hockey ranking got entry as a host nation. We can’t underestimate hosts as they will be having the home ground advantage and a supportive crowd. With the expertise of two world class defenders, Crista Cullen, and, team captain, Kate Walsh it will be difficult to beat them in defence. England has yet to record its name in the Women Champions Trophy winners.
The Kiwis won the Challenge cup played at Cape Town, South Africa in 2009 to get a chance to play in the Champions club. The black sticks can’t be taken lightly as they just beat China in the Rabo Bank trophy played in the Netherlands. New Zealand’s team is a comparatively younger side with only two players having 100 caps.
The tournament will get underway from Saturday 10th July, 2010 where China will take on Germany in the first match. England will play against Argentina in the second match. In the last match of the day, the Dutch side will play against the new entrants New Zealand.
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