McGurk Helps Launch 2009 Champions Trophy

WAIS hockey athlete Kobie McGurk was present at Bondi Beach today for the launch of the 2009 Samsung Women’s Champions Trophy.

McGurk – who featured at the 2008 Beijing Olympics – is considered an integral part of the Hockeyroos “next wave” as the team look to regain their standing as one of the powerhouses of world hockey.

The Champions Trophy is hockey’s most prestigious annual international event. Unique to any other major competition, the Champions Trophy comprises the top six-ranked teams in world hockey.

Today the Hockeyroos’ next generation of stars, including Kobie McGurk were joined by Hockeyroos coach Frank Murray at the famous Bondi Beach, one of Sydney’s most recognisable backdrops, to formally launch the tournament.

While this gave the players an opportunity to soak up the Bondi sun, it also symbolised the arrival of the next generation of Hockeyroo players who will form the driving force for the team’s bid to win a fourth gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

As the first major international tournament since the Beijing Olympics, Murray says he has no doubt several players will look forward to proving they are still a world class team at the 2009 Champions Trophy.

“Having only lost one game in Beijing – to eventual gold medallists the Netherlands – we are intent on looking forward. The Champions Trophy will give us our first opportunity since Beijing to consolidate our position in the top group of teams and continue to work back to the top,” said Murray.

Sydney Olympic Park and the 2000 Sydney Olympics ultimately represents the last time the Hockeyroos tasted Olympic success after the team won its third gold medal.

Hockeyroo defender Kobie McGurk said it is fitting to return to Sydney, the place where the old era finished, in an attempt to begin the challenge of becoming a powerhouse.

“It is very symbolic that our bid to take the next step and once again become a world force will take place at the same venue where ultimately the golden era for the Hockeyroos ended. In a way we have gone full circle and will begin our next Olympic campaign in the same place where we last tasted Olympic gold,” said McGurk.