11:38am Friday 8th June 2012
Surbiton’s hockey stars have done all they can to make sure they will be at the Riverbank Arena when the Olympic hockey tournament kicks off in August, writes Colin Pike.
The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, where GB finished fourth last week, was the last chance for the likes of Richard Alexander, James Tindall, Rob Moore, Ken Forbes and Matt Daly, as well as Wimbledon’s Ben Hawes, to stake their claim for a spot in the Olympic squad – which will be unveiled in three weeks times on June 27.
Although India staged a second half recovery to win the bronze medal match 3-1 against GB in Malaysia last week, all five of Surbiton’s GB training squad members and Hawes had reason for optimism.
Hawes scored in the pool game against India, Moore was on target against Malaysia, Alexander and Daly combined to score what proved to be the winning goal against eventual champions, New Zealand, and, although Tindall was only able to play in the first two games due to an ankle injury, he is expected to be fit in time for the Olympics.
Even Forbes, back in the UK after being left out of the cup squad, can take consolation that not all of the 27 training squad members could play in Malaysia.
Team GB will wonder what might have been, as a win instead of a draw against either Malaysia or Korea would have earned them a place in the final. As it was, their victory over Pakistan in their last pool game left them a point short of qualification as Argentina qualifying for the final, which they lost 1-0 to New Zealand.
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