Western Australia has continued it’s proud history in Olympic hockey with four Western Australian Institute of Sport athletes named in the Women’s Hockey Section of the 2008 Australian Olympic Team at an announcement in Perth this morning.
The State will make up a quarter of the team in Beijing after Emily Halliday, Kobie McGurk, Hope Munro and Kim Walker were all named in the 16-person squad that will attempt to regain their position as the pre-eminent side in world hockey.
29-year old Halliday is the only member of the quartet that has represented Australia at Olympic level, having been a member of the team that finished fifth in Athens, with McGurk (22), Munro (27)and Walker (32)all set to make their Olympic debuts come August. Halliday and McGurk will together form the core of the Australian defence in Chinawhile Munro and Walker are expected to bekey contributors in the midfield.
Hockeyroos Coach Frank Murray said the mix of experience and youth within the 2008 squad augurs well for their medal chances.
“We’re going into the Games with a good chance of a medal,” Murray said.
“We have a really good mix of experienced strong defensive players as well as new players with a strong future in hockey ahead of them. Although we are not going in to the Games as favourites, I feel this could work in our favour.”
The Hockeyroos depart for Hong Kong late next week for their final series of warm up matches before the Olympic competition begins on the 10th of August.
Profiles on the fourselected WAIS athletes are available on the official Australian Olympic Committee website – http://www.olympics.com.au/Athletes/TheTeam/tabid/343/Default.aspx?TeamID=14&SportID=15&DisciplineID=-1#teamTableContainer
