Teams set off to Paris for the 2nd INSEP Hockey Challenge 2011
The 2nd edition of the men’s five-nation series called the INSEP Hockey Challenge is all set to take place from July 26 to 31 at the National Institute of Sports (INSEP) in Paris, France. The five teams that are headed to the venue for playing
the event this year are Australia, Korea, Argentina, Ireland and the hosts, France.
In the inaugural season of the competition that was held in August 2010, Malaysia, Scotland, Poland, Ireland and France had taken part out of which the title was taken up by the Asians.
This year’s event organiser, Sandra Harik, expressed her content with the teams that will play the challenge and said, “It is fantastic for France hockey to have some of the top teams in the world competing here in Paris. It is also great for INSEP to be
able to show these teams the amazing facilities we have.”
If the current performances of these teams are observed in a glance then Korea seems very composed with a recent title win of the 2011 London Cup. However, the team still has not made it into the 2012 London Olympics.
Following the World’s sixth ranked, Korea, the Irish men are equally in form, being the recent Champions Challenge II winners. This World’s eighteenth ranked team has shown a rapid improvement in terms of performance and are no less than a threat to the
top most teams.
Ireland team’s coach, Paul Revington, admitted the team’s luck to be part of the challenge and believed this opportunity to be their next chance to earn another huge victory over some quality competitors.
The eleventh ranked team, Argentina, despite having a strong international reputation as a team, were hit by a bolt from the blue, when it failed to qualify into the 2008 Beijing Olympics. However, it has a strong history of playing the World Cups and Olympics
since the last 20 years.
France is yet to qualify into the 2012 Olympics and this is the first time since 1972 that the Frenchmen are struggling for a place in the mega sports gala. The team is all set to play host for the event where it will compete against some fine hockey powers.
Currently ranked at seventeenth, France ended second in the Champions Challenge II in Lille after getting beaten up by the Irish squad.
Scott Goodheart, the team’s coach, has selected a team with more young blood and is expecting some good events for the team. He commented, “This is a great opportunity to give our players further experience at this level. The hockey will be world class,
and this is one of the last chances we will have to try different combinations of players in an international competition prior to the Euro Nations Championships in August.”
Last but not the least, the World Champions, Australia will be leading the show along the rest of the teams, building up great competition at the French field.
These teams will be facing their opponents at a venue that holds world class facilities at its vicinity. 2011 INSEP Hockey Challenge has been scheduled to take place as:
July 26, 2011 Korea v Ireland
France v Argentina
July 27, 2011 Australia v Ireland
July 28, 2011 Australia v Argentina
France v Korea
July 29, 2011 Ireland v Argentina
July 30, 2011 Australia v Korea
France v Ireland
July 31, 2011 Argentina v Korea
France v Australia
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