Irish Hockey Coach Gene Muller has announced his selected eighteen to compete in the Champions Challenge II in Kazan, Russia from 21-27 June.
The Champions Challenge II is a new ranking tournament of the FIH which will be held every two years, the winner of which will be promoted to the Champions Challenge I in 2011.
Ireland (15th), who make their way to Russia on June 17th to prepare, will face Malaysia (24th), Russia (23rd) and the Ukraine (18th) in Pool B, while Pool A is made up of Belarus (26th), Canada (19th), India (14th) and Belgium (20th). Ireland enter this tournament ranked second highest at 15th in the world with India just one place ahead at 14th so expectations for topping the group will be high.
Muller’s selection sees a number of young players mixed in with the more seasoned internationals. Commenting on his selection it is clear Muller expects strong performances in this tournament, and players will no doubt be pushing hard to impress and make their mark ahead of selection for the EuroHockey Nations Championship next August. “The champions challenge II tournament will provide us with some much needed tournament experience. The tournament is open with many teams of similar ranking all wanting to progress up the world rankings. Critically the tournament comes at an ideal time in our preparation for the European Championships. I expect us to play well as the players have worked hard this year.”
Team Ireland: Lauren Barr, Emma Clarke, Bridget Cleland, Lizzie Colvin, Eimear Cregan, Roisin Flinn, Megan Frazer, Mary Goode, Emma Gray, Michelle Harvey, Lisa Jacob, Shirley McCay, Cathy McKean, Alex Speers, Niamh Small, Emma Smyth, Emma Stewart, Nikki Symmons.
Source: Irish Hockey Association
