The Grand Masters Hockey World Cup for veteran hockey players over 60 years turned out to be a great success. The event took place at the Club RTHC Bayer Leverkusen from 8-15 September. The tournament was organized within the official program of the BDO Hockey World Cup Men 2006, held in Monchengladbach, Germany.
England, Netherlands, Germany, Scotland, Italy, Australia, Egypt and Malaysia as well as a European-organized Alliance team were the participants. A women tournament for players aged 45 and over took place on the last three days. In this event, England, Italy and Germany participated.
The event turned out to be a marvelous tournament with excellent hockey played in the right spirit. An additional bonus was the brilliant summer weather. Overall, the Grand Masters Hockey World Cup was a perfect advertisement for international veterans’ hockey.
Germany won the gold medal in the over 60 years’ event after defeating England in the final. In the 65 and over tournament, the same two teams played the final. This time, it was England that took the gold medal home. The Tournament Trophy event was won by England LX. The Australia Downunders finished second, while Germany Ü60/2 took the third place. The women tournament was won by Germany based on most goals scored. England finished second, while Italy grabbed the third place.
The participants of the Grand Masters Hockey World Cup were also able to visit the main World Cup in Monchengladbach each day per shuttle bus and enjoyed the atmosphere of this unforgettable tournament and stadium.
For further information, please visit www.hockeyworldcup.de and www.lxhockey.org.uk
About the World Grand Masters Association (WGMA)
The World Grand Masters Association is now officially recognized by FIH as the sole representative for Veterans Over 60s hockey in the World.
Previous WGMA tournaments took place in Utrecht, Netherlands (1998), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2002) and in Athens, Greece after the Olympics at the Helleniko Olympic Hockey Centre in September 2004.
The next Grand Masters World Cup tournament is planned for China in 2008 and will be held either in Beijing or Hongkong. The main European Grand Masters will take place in England in 2007.
Countries interested in receiving more information about the WGMA or on future tournaments are kindly requested to contact Peter Child, WGMA President (peterchild@onlinehome.de) or Bernard Verbunt (WGMA Vice President (bverbuntsr@belgacom.net).
