Monday, April 21, 2008

Round-up of Hockey News for Week Ending 20/4/08

SPAIN’S WOMEN QUALIFY FOR OLYMPICS

Spain defeated the host nation, Azerbaijan, 3-2 in a tight match in Baku to win one of the remaining three places in the women’s Olympic hockey tournament in Beijing in August.

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FIH ANNOUNCE MEN’S OLYMPIC POOLS

The International Hockey Federation announced the pools for the Olympics in Beijing. The pools place Great Britain in Pool B with Australia and the Netherlands.

The pools (World ranking shown in brackets):

Pool A:
Germany (1)
Spain (4)
Korea (5)
New Zealand (10)
Belgium (12)
China (17)

Pool B:
Australia (2)
Netherlands (3)
Pakistan (6)
Great Britain (8)
South Africa (13)
Canada (15)

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GRANT AND GARRARD RETIRE

Former England and Great Britain captain Brett Garrard has announced his retirement from international hockey. Although Garrard played in the recent match between Great Britain and Poland, he does not seem to have been part of Jason Lee’s plans for the Olympics. Helen Grant has been forced to stand down from international hockey because of a knee injury.

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TIGERS LEAD THE PACK.

After the first weekend of play in the GB Super League at Cannock, Saxon Tigers remain undefeated and lead both the men’s and women’s competitions. The tournament now moves on to Edinburgh next weekend. This year the GB Super League is being held over two weekends only. TalkHockeyRadio will have a report direct from the ground in Edinburgh next Sunday.