The Canadian women's field hockey Head Coach Sally Bell announced the team who will compete against Korea, Ireland, Malaysia, Italy and Uruguay for the last berth in the women's Olympic tournament. Eighteen Canadian field hockey players will get their last chance to book a ticket to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
ÔÇ£We are anticipating this will make a very positive impact on team although we have never played a tournament at home before,ÔÇØ said Bell just prior to Team Canada's first training session at the University of Victoria. ÔÇ£Our previous home experience was in May of 2007 when we played Chile in a five game test series. Our results were excellent. Athletes will enjoy having family and friends around to see them play for their country.ÔÇØ
ÔÇ£We need consistency of performance and we need to get off to a strong start,ÔÇØ continued Bell. ÔÇ£The first two games versus Italy and Ireland are keys for us and must be won to improve our chances of finishing in the top two to play off for the Olympic Qualifying berth. Korea will be the strongest country participating - currently ranked 9th in world. But they are Canada's last game and if we are able to get them into the final then a result is possible.ÔÇØ
Canada is ranked 23rd world wide. The other teams competing in the tournament include Ireland (ranked 14th), Italy (19th), Malaysia (25th) and Uruguay (24th). Field hockey is played by more than three million people around the world, on all five continents.
Team Canada: O'Hara Cailie, Anderson Megan, Dickson Carly, Kedgley Philippa, Jameson Stephanie, Rushton Katie, DePape Christine, Forbes Sarah (GK), Hume Stephanie, Baker Katie, Linton Hilary, Dickinson Marian, Buker Kimberly, Rushton Andrea, Gillis Kathryn, Michaluk Tiffany, Linton Clare, Liu Azelia (GK).
Source: Fieldhockey Canada
