The 2012 FIH player of the year Moritz Fürste has been ruled out of the Rabobank Hockey World Cup, which is taking place in The Hague in 31 May to 15 June this year. The influential German has torn his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) during a training session in South Africa, where the German men's team are preparing for the World Cup.
Messages of support and commiseration have been flooding in via Twitter to the 29-year-old. He replied under the hashtag 'nevergiveup' "Woke up and realised that it is just another day. Thank you so much for everyone supporting me… it helps a lot." Speaking to the online sports magazine Sportschau, German coach Markus Weise said: "This is obviously very depressing for all of us,".
It is not the first time that Fürste has suffered with ligament problems. He had a similar injury in 2011, but recovered in time to play a crucial role in Germany's Olympic victory at London 2012.
Germany, who are playing in group B in the World Cup, face South Africa in their opening match on 1 June.
