MADRID, 18 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The field hockey European Championship, which will be held until August 27 in Mönchengladbach (Germany) in both the men’s and women’s categories, will check the progression of the Spanish teams after the good image given at club level, and when only One year to go until the Olympic Games in Paris.
The winner of each European will get a direct ticket to that event in Paris 2024. But if the title is won by the French team, the host country of the Games, their place will then be assigned through various Qualifying Tournaments. Thus, now a high demand will be lived in the facilities of the SparkassenPark of Mönchengladbach.
Placed in Group A alongside the selections of Austria, Belgium and England, the Spanish team will take part with Luis Calzado, Adrián Rafi, Xavi Gispert, Nacho Rodríguez, Álex Alonso, Jordi Bonastre, Pau Cunill, Marc Recasens, Marc Miralles , Quique González de Castejón, Rafa Vilallonga, Gerard Clapés, Pepe Cunill, Borja Lacalle, Álvaro Iglesias, Joaquín Menini, Marc Reyné and José Basterra.
The debut of the pupils of Max Caldas will be next Sunday (10.15 am), against the Austrians; His next commitment will be on August 21 (8:30 p.m.), against Belgium on matchday 2; and he will close the first phase on August 23 (12:15 p.m.), facing off against the English team on matchday 3.
In the Spanish record regarding the men’s competition, there are the titles won in 1974 and 2005, as well as three silver medals (2003, 2007 and 2019) and one bronze (1970). It will be essential to take advantage of the inertia of players who during the 2022/23 academic year had a good performance with Atlètic Terrassa, third in the Euroleague for clubs.
For its part, the Spanish team aspires to break the semifinal barrier in the women’s tournament 20 years later. He does not have any gold on his resume, but he does have two runners-up (1995 and 2003) along with a bronze medal (2019). For this reason, the challenge in Mönchengladbach will be enormous for the players trained by Adrian Lock.
To deal with this, in his call he included María Ángeles Ruiz, Clara Pérez, María López, Candela Mejías, Xantal Giné, Coti Teves, Clara Ycart, Julia Strappato, Lucía Jiménez, Alejandra Torres-Quevedo, Bea Pérez, Maialen García, Laia Vidosa, Laura Barrios, Sara Barrios, Belén Iglesias, Marta Segú and Patricia Álvarez.
Also competing in Group A together with the teams from the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium, the Spanish team will debut next Saturday (1:15 pm) against ‘Oranje’; then it will play on August 20 (7:45 p.m.) against the Italians and will be measured on August 22 (5:00 p.m.) against the Belgians during the third day.