Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 7: With the Champions Trophy being the third most important tournament after the Olympics and the World Cup, almost all the eight participating teams in the ongoing edition here has fielded relatively young squads to ‘develop’ their bench strength for the 2016 Rio Games.
World Champions and five-time reigning title holders Australia, Olympic champions Germany, World No. 2 the Netherlands and Belgium among others have brought quite a few youngsters to help them gain experience.
In fact, hosts India, who have booked a direct ticket to Rio by winning the Asian Games gold, too are taking this event as their first build up to 2016 Olympics.
“The Olympics is two years away and we have recently qualified for Rio. So no doubt we are taking the Champions Trophy as a build-up. It is the right time to start our preparations,” stated India’s coach Roelant Oltmans.
Hurt by retirements and injuries to some key players like Jamie Dwyer, Mark Knowles and Kieren Govers, Australia have also fielded a young side for the event. “The idea for the next 12 months is to provide our players with opportunities. The injuries to Dwyer, Knowles, Govers have given us the opportunity to bring younger guys and give them more matches at the highest level,” Graham Reid stated;.
“In fact four to five guys are completely raw. They haven’t played in any international tournament. From this tournament they will understand what international hockey is all about,” he added.
Reigning Olympic champions Germany coach Markus Weise too agreed with his counterparts from other nations participating in the Champions Trophy. “It (Champions Trophy) belongs to our plan towards Rio. It’s good to have 30-33 people competing for places in the squad. If you always nominate the same 18 players, it doesn’t help you increase your bench strength,” he said.
Max Caldas, who has recently taken charge of the Netherlands also has the same opinion. “We had four new caps in our first match. It is a great chance for them to play in India, a hockey country. The Champions Trophy is a part of our preparation for Rio,” stated Caldas.
