Hockey: Women's best on the way

Hockey: Women's best on the way

Singapore will host some of the world's best hockey women players next January.

As part of a two-year sponsorship agreement between The Project Group (TPG) and Hockey Australia, the Hockeyroos - Australia's women's team - will play in a three-nation tournament, together with world No. 1 Holland and Germany, at the Sengkang Stadium from Jan 18 to 24.

The tournament will be part of the Hockeyroos' build-up towards the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Speaking on the sidelines of the contract-signing ceremony at the Perth Hockey Stadium yesterday, Hockeyroos' coach Adam Commens is looking forward to the Singapore sojourn that will kick off the team's final push for the Olympics, which will be held in Rio from Aug 5 to 21.

"We're looking at having strong competition for the Olympic squad, and coming to Singapore is a great opportunity to set a framework for that, while also providing matches against top quality opposition," he said.

"While we will come to Singapore with between 24 and 27 girls, we can take only 16 to the Olympics, and it's important to have competition, because it drives out complacency," added Commens.

The Kookaburras, the world champion Australian men's team, have also been pencilled in to play in Singapore at a date to be announced later.

"The plan to have a three-nation tournament featuring some of the top women's teams in the world is to showcase top quality hockey in Singapore," said Paul Lim, managing director of TPG, a project management and cost management firm, who declined to reveal financial details of the two-year deal.

"We're also looking to get the men over sometime soon."

shamiro@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on April 28, 2015.
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