By Alvin Chia
Men’s Junior World Cup Comes to Town
Hockey fans are in for a real treat in June as Singapore welcomes to its shores the Standard Chartered FIH Men’s Junior World Cup 2009. Held once every four years, this highly prestigious tournament will lend considerable weight and flavour to the local sports calendar. And to top it off, this will be the first time the competition is being co-hosted by two cities.
Over the two weeks of the tournament, Singapore and Johor will jointly host the top teams from all over the world. We can expect to see some exciting action at the Seng Kang Hockey Stadium as hot favourites like Australia, the Netherlands and Defending Champion Argentina thrash it out on the pit.
Even with a crop of young players who are under 21 years old, the competition will not lack in quality play. Some countries are set to feature players who are already in their senior teams.
As the co-host of the World Cup, the Singapore team will be making her debut at the competition and will get to compete against the world’s top hockey teams. Singapore is drawn to play against Poland, New Zealand, and powerhouses Netherlands and India in the group stage.
The Singapore team is, however, undaunted by the prospect of facing such tough opponents. They are instead keeping their focus on getting themselves ready for the competition. As part of the preparations, the players recently went through a training camp that centered on team bonding and building mental fitness.
As a prelude to the Youth Olympic Games to be held next year in the city-state, the Standard Chartered FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup takes on special significance as a test event for the host country – Singapore – as well as other countries that are looking to familiarise themselves with the playing conditions here.
For details on the Men’s Junior World that is happening from 7 – 21 June, log onto http://www.espnstar.com/hockey/junior-wc2009/