The England Men's squad for the BDO Hockey Champions Challenge in Antwerp/Boom, Belgium, has been announced. England will play in the six team tournament between 23 June and 1 July and will face Argentina, hosts Belgium, India, Japan and New Zealand.
There are only two changes from the squad which participated in the World Cup in September last year. England exceeded expectations at this tournament finishing in fifth place ÔÇô six places above their pre-tournament World Ranking. Ashley Jackson has been called up for his first major senior tournament following Jerome Goudie's retirement at the beginning of this year and Ben Marsden rejoins the squad. Marsden was originally selected for the World Cup but was replaced by Alistair Wilson after he was forced to withdraw when he sustained an ankle injury in training prior to the start of the tournament.
Ten of the selected players participated in the last Champions Challenge which was held in Alexandria in 2005. England finished in fourth spot after losing out 6-5 in a thrilling play-off for Bronze against Belgium.
England, ranked 9th in the world, will begin their Champions Challenge campaign on 23 June against Argentina who is just a place above England in the world rankings. They then go onto play India (ranked 7th), New Zealand (ranked 10th), Japan (ranked 12th) and Belgium (ranked 13th) before concluding with the classification matches on Sunday 1 July.
Head Coach Jason Lee said ÔÇ£The squad is largely unchanged from the one which competed in the World Cup in September with the addition of Ashley Jackson following an excellent performance in the GB Super League where he was top goal scorer.ÔÇØ
England team for BDO Champions Challenge:
Nick Brothers (GK), Glenn Kirkham, Richard Alexander, Richard Mantell, Ashley Jackson, Simon Mantell, Martin Jones, Matt Daly, Brett Garrard, Jonty Clarke, Rob Moore, Ben Hawes, Scott Cordon, Barry Middleton, James Tindall, Jon Bleby, Ben Marsden, James Fair (GK).
