The South African women’s hockey team departs for Valencia, Spain on Wednesday, to compete at the FIH Hockey Series Finals from the 19-27 June 2019. Their aim is to make the top two in this tournament in order to be in contention for Olympic qualification.
Captain Erin Hunter says they will have two warm-up matches before they take on Wales, Italy and Thailand in Pool B.
SA’s opponents will be no pushovers and Hunter says they have studied their opponents but their only worry is that they know little of Thailand.
The SA men got late off the blocks in the FIH Series Finals in India, getting a rude awakening with consecutive two nil defeats to USA and Japan respectively, but they managed to claw back in the tournament with a 6-0 win over Mexico in their last game. Hunter knows the team cannot take any team for granted.
Vice-captain, Phumelela Mbande, was feeling upbeat and feels the ladies have what it takes to deliver and show SASCOC that they can make the Olympic grade.
Five players receive their caps in the team selected to compete in Spain and one promising youngster is the daughter of AmaZulu coach Cavin Johnson who makes her debut in this tournament. – Report by Jefferson Lupuwana
