The German and Irish hockey teams arrived here on Sunday for the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup (HWC) 2018. So far, 15 teams have arrived while only Malaysia is awaited.
Though the German team had a disappointing outing in 2017 at the Odisha Men’s Hockey World League Final here, where they lost the bronze medal match to India, the German team is vying for the top spot at the prestigious event to begin on November 28.
German team captain Florian Fuchs said, “It feels good to be back here. We have played a couple of times here and the fans are fantastic. The energy is good. Though right now we are tired after the flight, we can’t wait to get onto the pitch.”
Fuchs added that the tournament would be tough and one can’t predict favourites in the contest. “We came here to achieve something and we have the capability and the team for that. It will be quite a tough tournament considering the games are stretched to the last minute and about eight teams are evenly placed,” added Fuchs.
Germany is grouped in Pool D with Pakistan, Malaysia, and the Netherlands. They begin their campaign against Pakistan on December 1.
Ireland too arrived on Sunday afternoon and was excited to be in Bhubaneswar. “We have quite a few senior players as well as youngsters. Many of them have never been to India so there is a lot of excitement among the players,” said captian David Harte.
Ireland will begin their campaign on November 30 against defending Champions Australia. The Canadian National Team grouped in Pool C along with India, Belgium and South Africa, too arrived early in the morning on the day.
Malaysia will join the 15 participating teams at night.