By Lucas Ball
Congratulations to Men’s 1s player and Women’s 1s Assistant Coach Hayden Phillips who has been selected by New Zealand for the upcoming Olympic Qualifiers in Muscat, Oman.
New Zealand will take on Canada, Chile and Germany in their pool, with the other consisting of Great Britain, Pakistan, Malaysia and China.
The top-two teams from each group qualify for the semi-finals, meaning there is a chance Phillips could face Holcombe teammates Ollie Payne, David Ames, Nick Bandurak and Phil Roper in the latter stages – if those four are all selected by Paul Revington.
Both finalists and the winners of the bronze medal match will qualify for Paris 2024.
The Black Sticks have recently played a friendly series against Korea and Malaysia, winning all eight of their games and hitting the back of the net 29 times.
Men’s head coach Greg Nicol said: “We had some impressive performances across the December series which made selection highly competitive.
“We have prepared well for the challenge ahead and with the team playing well we are hopefully hitting our straps at the right time.”
Matches will be streamed on the FIH’s Watch.Hockey platform.
Full squad: Scott Boyde, Dom Dixon, Sean Findlay, Leon Hayward, Sam Hiha, Isaac Houlbrooke, Hugo Inglis, Sam Lane, Dane Lett, Charlie Morrison, Joe Morrison, Hayden Phillips, Kane Russell, Aidan Sarikaya, Jake Smith, Blair Tarrant, Nic Woods (C), Simon Yorston
Travelling reserves: George Baker, Malachi Buschi
Match 1 vs. Chile – January 16th 1:15am NZT (January 15th 12:15pm GMT, 4:15pm local time)
Match 2 vs. Germany – Jan 17th 1:15am NZT (January 16th 12:15pm GMT, 4:15pm local time)
Match 3 vs. Canada – Jan 19th 1:15am NZT (January 18th 12:15pm GMT, 4:15pm local time)
Image: Martin Waight