England contenders for Hockey World Cup, asserts skipper David Ames

Netherlands and Chile also expressed confidence in their abilities.

The Men's Hockey Teams from England, the Netherlands and Chile touched down at the Rourkela Aerodome in Rourkela on Tuesday to take part in the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela. The teams reached Rourkela from Bhubaneswar through Charter Flights.

England, who are placed in Pool D along with India, Spain and Wales, will open their campaign against Wales on 13th January. After that, England will take on the Indian Men's Hockey Team on 15th January, also in Rourkela, before moving back to Bhubaneswar, where they end their group stage on January 19th against Spain.

"India is always an exciting place to come and play hockey. We are looking forward to play against big teams and registering some famous victories in the tournament. I think we are a contender for the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela trophy. There is a lot of belief in our camp as everyone is confident about their abilities," commented Captain England's Captain David Ames.

England have Paul Revington as their Head Coach. He spoke about his team's preparations for Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela. The Head Coach stated, "We stayed in Bhubaneswar for the first few days to cool down after a long flight and now we are totally refreshed and ready to roar in the tournament. The team has done a lot of hard work in the last one year and we will show it in the competition."

Netherlands ready for the World Cup: Skipper Thierry Brinkman

Meanwhile, the Netherlands, led by Thierry Brinkman, will face Malaysia in their first match of the tournament on January 14th. They are placed in Pool C, along with Chile, Malaysia and New Zealand. After their match against Malaysia on the second day of the competition, the Netherlands play New Zealand on January 16th, in Rourkela, and round up their group stage campaign against Chile on January 19th in Bhubaneswar. All of the group-stage matches for the Netherlands team will start at 1500 hours IST.

Captain Thierry Brinkman touched upon how the team prepared for the competition in the last few months, saying, "The last few months in the build-up to the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela have been pretty good for us. The team is completely ready for the tournament. It is amazing to be here again and we are excited to play in front of the hockey fans in the tournament."

The Head Coach of the Netherlands Men's Hockey Team, Jeroen Delmee seemed confident ahead of the tournament. He said, "The new stadium in Rourkela feels amazing and it will be exciting to play there in front of a large number of fans. I think we will have to fight from game to game and then we will see where we end up in the tournament. Our first target is to reach the Quarter-Final and then make the Semis. We will then see how things go on in the Final."

Debutants Chile looking forward to playing in Rourkela

Chile was the last team to reach Rourkela on the day. Led by Fernando Renz, the Chile Men's Hockey Team will play their opening match of the tournament against New Zealand on 14th January.

Renz touched upon the challenges they expect to face in the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela, saying, "This is our first time in the Men’s Hockey World Cup. We qualified for the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela in Santiago, Chile almost a year back and since then, we have been preparing for this prestigious tournament."

The team is placed in Pool C along with the Netherlands, Malaysia and New Zealand. After making their tournament debut, Chile take on Malaysia on January 16th, in Rourkela, and round up their group stage campaign against the Netherlands on January 19th in Bhubaneswar. Their first two group-stage matches will start at 1300 hours IST, while the third will be at 1500 hrs IST.

Meanwhile, Head Coach Jorge Dabanch is confident about his players putting up a good show in the tournament. 

"It will be interesting to play in Rourkela as they have built a new stadium here and the crowd is amazing as well. There are many top teams in the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela and we will look to register a win against these top sides in the tournament," said Jorge Dabanch.