The 12 greatest groups (males’s and ladies’s) from world wide are converging in Paris as we countdown to the ultimate few days until the beginning of the Hockey competitors on the Olympic Video games Paris 2024! Every crew comes with the purpose of standing on the Olympic podium, whereas just one can declare the gold medal on the finish of the Video games.
The primary impediment for all groups within the occasion come within the type of their pool opponents. The 12 groups have been cut up into two swimming pools of 6 groups every, with the highest 4 groups from every pool qualifying for the quarterfinals. In in the present day’s preview, meet the groups in Pool A of the ladies’s competitors, and discover out the distinctive enjoying types they may deliver to Paris.
Netherlands
Because the reigning Olympic, World, European and FIH Hockey Professional League champions, it comes as little shock that the Netherlands shall be thought of as scorching favourites to efficiently defend the gold medal they gained in 2021 on the delayed Tokyo Olympiad.
The Oranje had been in glowing kind on the 2023 EuroHockey Championships in Mönchengladbach, Germany, claiming 5 wins out of 5 – together with an emphatic 7-0 thrashing of England within the semi-finals – to seal their file extending twelfth European title and assure their participation on the Olympic Video games Paris 2024. The mighty Dutch adopted it up with their fourth FIH Hockey Professional League title, profitable 15 out of 16 matches with Yibbi Jansen claiming a powerful 19 objective haul, eight away from Argentina’s Agustina Gorzelany on the prime of the scorer’s chart. Jansen shall be an enormous penalty nook risk for the Netherlands in Paris, certainly one of quite a few world class gamers head coach Paul van Ass has at his disposal. In striker Felice Albers and crew captain Xan de Waard the Netherlands have the 2 most up-to-date winners of the FIH Hockey Stars Participant of the Yr award, whereas Frederique Matla, Freeke Moes, Pien Dicke, Maria Verschoor and goalkeeper Anne Veenendaal are all extraordinary abilities.
Having completed on the rostrum at each Olympic Video games since Atlanta 1996 and contested the final 5 finals, the Netherlands will take some stopping.
Head Coach Paul van Ass: “The Dutch ladies’s hockey crew has been on the prime for a few years. However we additionally realise that staying on the prime may be very troublesome. However be assured we nonetheless work very onerous to current ourselves in the very best means. And sure, hopefully we might be an inspiration for a brand new era with the prolongation of an Olympic medal.”
Belgium
Over the previous six years, Belgium’s ladies have established themselves as a real European powerhouse, claiming silver medals on the EuroHockey Championships in each 2017 and the 2023 occasion in Mönchengladbach, Germany. On the 2023 competitors the Purple Panthers defeated Italy, Spain and Germany en path to the ultimate, finally dropping 3-1 to the Netherlands within the gold medal match. Regardless of that painful loss, it was one other milestone second within the growth of a gifted group of gamers, with younger abilities comparable to gifted teenager Emily White and ace midfielder Charlotte Englebert producing performances to match these of established performers like Barbara Nelen, Alix Gerniers and Stephanie Vanden Borre.
Belgium sealed their place at Paris 2024 with a string of fantastic performances at January’s FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier in Valencia, bouncing again from 0-0 draw in opposition to Eire to file crushing wins in opposition to Korea (10-1) and Ukraine (13-0) to arrange a semi-final in opposition to Nice Britain. Objectives from Nelen, Vanden Borre and Justine Rasir earned a 3-2 overcome the Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallists to substantiate their ticket to Paris earlier than profitable the qualifying match outright by beating hosts Spain 2-1 within the ultimate. The crew not too long ago claimed their second successive fourth place end within the FIH Hockey Professional League, the spotlight of which was a sensational 2-1 win over the Netherlands on Dutch soil in Amsterdam. Englebert and Vanden Borre scored the essential objectives, giving Belgium a exceptional victory in opposition to a crew that ended up profitable 15 of their 16 Professional League matches.
The crew is coached by Raoul Ehren, who guided Den Bosch ladies to unprecedented membership success each within the Netherlands and Europe and is clearly working his magic at worldwide degree. With expertise in abundance and a improbable, bold coach with large concepts, this crew can combine it with the easiest.
Head Coach Raoul Ehren: “We’re so excited to hitch Paris 2024. Three of our gamers had been already in London 2012, however for the remainder will probably be a brand new expertise to play on the Olympics. From our leads to the final years, now we have the arrogance that now we have a powerful and really aggressive crew. We wish to go for a spot within the quarter finals. We’ll take it recreation by recreation for a most consequence”.
Germany
Having gained each main title on supply and all the time real contenders for a spot on the rostrum, 2004 Olympic gold medallists Germany have a global file to be pleased with. The crew coached by Valentin Altenburg – who guided Germany males to Olympic bronze at Rio 2016 – proved their class as soon as once more in August 2023, taking the bronze medal on the EuroHockey Championships, which had been performed on dwelling turf in Mönchengladbach. Remarkably, Die Danas conceded solely as soon as throughout that competitors, with that solitary objective condemning them to a slender 1-0 defeat in opposition to Belgium within the semi-final. Nonetheless, the host nation completed on a excessive, with objectives from penalty nook star and 2023 FIH Hockey Stars Participant of the Yr award nominee Sonja Zimmermann, Charlotte Stapenhorst and Jette Fleschütz sealing an excellent 3-0 win over England to bag the bronze medal.
Germany’s place at Paris was confirmed on the qualification match in Ranchi (IND), the place an Olympic ticket was on supply for the highest three finishers. Wins in opposition to Chile (3-0) and Czech Republic (10-0) got here both aspect of a 1-1 draw in opposition to Japan, organising a semi-final conflict with hosts India. A pulsating match completed 2-2 with Germany finally triumphant 4-3 within the shootouts, with goalkeeper Julia Sonntag denying 4 India gamers to seal each a spot within the ultimate – the place they defeated USA 2-0 – and Paris 2024.
Germany’s kind since Ranchi has been spectacular. Die Danas claimed eleven wins out of 16 matches within the 2023-24 version of the FIH Hockey Professional League, with their second-place end sealing qualification for the 2026 FIH World Cup to be performed in Belgium and the Netherlands. With a squad brimming with confidence and high quality, Germany – captained by tenacious defender Nike Lorenz – are critical contenders for the gold medal in Paris.
Head Coach Valentin Altenburg: “We’re travelling to Paris to assault the world’s greatest. And that’s why our first objective is to achieve the quarter-finals. We’ll face obstacles alongside the best way and we’re decided to make use of them to develop as a match crew.”
Japan
Having featured in each Olympic Video games since Athens 2004, Japan’s ladies’s hockey crew will as soon as once more be in motion on the world’s biggest sporting stage.
The Cherry Blossoms certified for his or her sixth successive Olympics due to a 3rd place end on the 2024 FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier in Ranchi (IND), which provided Paris 2024 tickets to the highest three finishers. Wins in opposition to Czech Republic (2-0) and Chile (2-0) both aspect of a 1-1 draw with Germany ensured a secure passage by way of to the semi-final, however their qualification hopes had been dashed after they suffered defeat by the hands of USA. Their ultimate probability got here within the 3-4 play-off the place they confronted match hosts India, who had suffered an agonising shoot-out loss of their semi-final in opposition to Germany. Remarkably, Japan emerged victorious due to a solitary objective from Kana Urata, who transformed a penalty nook within the sixth minute to ship her crew to France on the expense of the house favourites.
Group captain Yuri Nagai is essentially the most skilled member of Japan’s squad, with the 32-year-old having represented her nation 232 instances. Yuri’s youthful sister Hazuki, 29, can be a double centurion by way of worldwide appearances, with the siblings all set for his or her third Olympic Video games after competing at Rio 2016 and on dwelling soil in Tokyo three years in the past. The squad is coached by former India males’s goalkeeper and Sydney 2000 Olympian Jude Menezes, who took cost of the crew late in 2021 after two years with New Zealand ladies as assistant coach.
Head Coach Jude Menezes: “These video games present Sakura Japan with an excellent alternative to encourage the subsequent era of hockey gamers in Japan. Our expectation is to carry out to the most effective of our potential. Now we have mentioned taking it one match at a time. Our first focus is to complete within the prime 4 in our pool and make it to the quarter finals. After that, something is feasible. At this stage, it’s one step at a time. We want to thank our households and followers for his or her unwavering assist to get us this far. Please hold supporting us and we’ll do every little thing potential to carry out at our greatest on the Olympic Video games.”
China
After clinching gold eventually October’s postponed Asian Video games 2022 to safe their spot at Paris 2024, China shall be feeling optimistic about their possibilities for Olympic success. The Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medallists had been sensational on dwelling soil in Hangzhou, profitable all six of their matches with out conceding a single objective. They defeated Japan (2-0), India (4-0), and Korea (2-0), scoring a powerful complete of 49 objectives as key gamers Gu Bingfeng (9 objectives), Zhang Ying (7), and Zhong Jiaqi (7) claimed the highest three spots on the competitors’s prime scorer chart. The crew is led by Alyson Annan, the legendary former Australian worldwide and two-time FIH Participant of the Yr, who took over as coach in 2022. Annan’s appointment, together with the addition of fellow Australian icon Ric Charlesworth and Dutch penalty nook professional Taeke Taekema – named China’s assistant coach for Paris 2024 – demonstrates China’s excessive ambitions.
Current outcomes present that Annan’s venture is starting to bear fruit. Having by no means completed increased than seventh within the first 4 seasons of the elite FIH Hockey Professional League, China achieved fifth place within the 2023-24 version, with notable victories over Australia, Germany, India, Belgium, and the USA. With a superb coach – Annan was named feminine FIH Coach of the Yr within the 2023 FIH Hockey Stars Awards – and quite a few proficient gamers, China shouldn’t be underestimated.
France
Though granted a spot within the Paris 2024 hockey competitions by advantage of internet hosting the Video games of the XXXIII Olympiad, the French groups don’t have any intention of merely making up the numbers. This second has been years within the making, with each the boys’s and ladies’s groups working tirelessly in readiness for the as soon as in a lifetime probability to compete in a house Olympic Video games.
Whereas the performances of France’s males’s crew have caught the attention, the ladies have additionally been making regular progress forward of their Olympic debut. As not too long ago as 2019 the crew discovered themselves within the third tier of European competitors, however two promotions within the final within the final three occasions signifies that subsequent time round they may function within the elite EuroHockey Championship, their first look since 2005. France had been totally dominant on the EuroHockey Championship II 2023 occasion in Prague, beating Lithuania, Wales, Austria, Ukraine and host nation Czech Republic to return to Europe’s prime desk. Paola Le Nindre prime scored for her nation with 4 objectives, with Philippine Delemazure, Alice Lesgourgues and Eve Verzura every netting thrice. Le Nindre and Delemazure, who was named Participant of the Match, had been each simply 17 years outdated on the Prague occasion, with the teenage duo now set to showcase their abilities on the Olympic stage.
Drawn in a ferociously aggressive Pool A that includes reigning Olympic, World and European champions the Netherlands, Les Bleues know safely negotiating their strategy to the quarter-finals shall be a mightily powerful process. Nonetheless, with the passionate assist of the house followers behind them, this proficient and enthusiastic squad are definitely able to springing a couple of surprises.
Group Captain Emma Ponthieu: “Collaborating within the Olympics for the primary time, in our personal nation, in entrance of our households and followers, is absolutely particular for us. We’re very proud to make historical past as the primary French ladies’s crew to compete within the Olympics. We are able to’t wait to play, give our all and combat for each recreation. It’s a singular and unforgettable expertise that can unite us eternally.”
The hockey competitions on the Olympic Video games Paris 2024 will happen from 27 July to 9 August 2024. Each the boys’s and ladies’s competitions function 12 groups, cut up into two swimming pools of six forward of quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches. For extra particulars concerning the competitors, go to Olympics.Hockey.