SA hockey men get kit sponsor

National hockey team member Durbanite Wade Paton (pictured) is in line to earn his 50th cap when he represents South Africa in the�FIH Olympic�Qualifier in Kakamigahara in Japan from April 26 - May 6.

National hockey team member Durbanite Wade Paton (pictured) is in line to earn his 50th cap when he represents South Africa in the�FIH Olympic�Qualifier in Kakamigahara in Japan from April 26 - May 6.

Published Apr 19, 2012

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A determined South African men’s hockey team jet off at 12.30pm Thursday for the Land of the Rising Sun, and will be hoping that golden rays shine brightly upon them in Japan as they look to clinch the last remaining berth available at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

From April 26 to May 6, the SA side will compete in the FIH Olympic Qualifier in Kakamigahara, where they will have to win the gold medal to qualify for the 12 team tournament at the Olympics.

It has been a long and involved qualification process thus far for the men's team, which began back in September when they won the African Olympic Qualifier in Zimbabwe, only to have their spot retracted after additional criteria was put in place.

They then narrowly missed out on securing their qualification at the Champions Challenge held in Johannesburg in November, having walked away with a bronze medal when a top two finish was required to confirm their place at the July 29 to August 14 Olympics.

It’s been a case of so near and yet so far, but there are still plenty of reasons to be positive about the team’s prospects of securing a positive result in Japan.

Since the Champions Challenge, they have drawn a series with Great Britain (ranked fourth in the world), as well as recorded a series win over Austria, who will participate in the upcoming Qualifier.

Furthermore, the 12th-ranked SA team recently beat India in India for the first time ever, maintaining the positive win-loss ratio that they’ve enjoyed over the past year in spite of the fact that the majority of matches have been played against higher ranked opposition.

Coach Gregg Clark said he had been extremely encouraged by the form shown by the current squad.

“We have, in my opinion, the most complete group of international hockey players this country has seen for a few generations and it is our goal to make it to London and to achieve a significant result,” he enthused.

Midfielder Wade Paton, who could earn his 50th cap for South Africa if picked to participate in the team’s first game against Brazil on April 26, said preparation had been going well.

“We really have a good group of players and we're all friends, which helps quite a lot. It comes down to a trust factor because a lot of us are based around the country and world. So we might not interact on the same sort of basis as the Springboks or Proteas do when they have camps all the time. You have to trust that your teammates are putting in the hard work to know that they will deliver when it really counts. We are fortunate to have that and we have had some really good training.”

In recognition of the team’s success as well as their potential, Mr Price Sport is now the official kit sponsor of the SA men’s team, which Clark said was a major boost.

“We're really looking forward to donning our new green and gold Maxed kit for the Olympic Qualifier in Japan and clinching the qualification spot. We're confident that we'll make our new sponsors proud to be associated with not only great athletes, but great South Africans.”

It was a sentiment echoed by the President of the South African Hockey Association, Dave Carr: “We are pleased to have a premier South African brand of the stature of Mr Price Sport on board in our quest to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics. It is certainly an exciting time in our Road to London that the SA Men’s hockey team will be presented with their Mr Price Sport kit ahead of the final Olympic Qualifier to take place in Kakamigahara, Japan. The Mr Price Sport brand will be a constant reminder to the team of the support from all South Africans.” – Supplied

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