Black Sticks take aim at medal

New Zealand women's Black Sticks coach Mark Hager views next month's Commonwealth Games campaign in Delhi as equally as important as their recent international tournaments.
It has already been a massive year for the women's Black Sticks, and they head into the Games on the back of playing at the Champions Trophy in Nottingham during July, where they placed fifth, as well as the World Cup in Argentina earlier this month, where they beat China to finish in the seventh spot.
Despite competing in two of the biggest tournaments of their chosen sport, Hager is placing a lot of onus on the Commonwealth Games, of which Northland's Stacey Michelsen, Ella Gunson, Anna Thorpe, Charlotte and Samantha Harrison are a part.
"The Comm Games has more of a profile with the New Zealand public and it is something we want to do well in," he said.
Obviously the team are hoping to medal - they have finished fourth, just outside the medals, at the last two Commonwealth Games.
"Looking at rankings, we should medal but you just don't know how the other teams are going to perform ... most of the teams will be a lot fresher than us, and a lot of it will come down to whether we can peak again so soon after the World Cup."
Ultimately, the key for the Black Sticks at Delhi will be consistency after a patchy performance at the World Cup.
"We maintained our ranking which was important - but we wasted our first game against Germany, where we had the opportunity to get a point if not win ... and against Australia we played well in the first half but were unable to sustain that. When you put it all into perspective I was pretty pleased."
The women's team depart New Zealand today as was the original plan, but they will stay in Hong Kong for four days, before travelling on to Delhi due to the delay of accessing the Commonwealth Games village.
It has been a tense wait while New Zealand Hockey find out if the women's seventh place at the World Cup and their ranking following it is enough to earn them a second Olympic qualifying place for Oceania.
"We're waiting for clarification from the International Hockey Federation, we've been asking when it will be announced and we're hoping it will be just after the Comm Games," Hager said.
If there are two spots and it is a round robin scenario, both finalists at the Oceania Hockey Cup next year in Australia will most likely go through to qualify. However, the format is yet to be decided.
The 2011 Black Sticks squad will be named at the conclusion of the Commonwealth Games, which get underway on October 3 and conclude on October 14.