HOCKEY - Fewer spots mean hard Olympics decisions

Competition for a smaller than usual number of places in the Black Sticks meant that Northland's Charlotte Harrison was controversially left out of the final reckoning when the Olympic squad was announced yesterday.
Harrison was kept out of the squad by 18-year-old Gemma Flynn, who has quickly risen from relative obscurity to join experienced strikers Jaimee Claxton, Niniwa Roberts and Krystal Forgesson as coach Kevin Towns' choice of forwards at the tournament.
"It really came down to her and Gemma and they had a fair old battle over in China [on the Black Sticks recent tour] ... and at the the end of the day we were looking at the effect that one player had, over the other on a game and unfortunately for Lotte, Gemma came out on top," Towns said.
He said if the team could take 18 players to Beijing, like they did to the 2004 Athens Olympics, it was likely Harrison would have been there.
Harrison will still have an outside chance of playing at the Olympic tournament. Towns said he will approach her later this week to discuss being one of two standby players.
Towns said he felt for the 18-year-old Harrison, who had been with the team all throughout its Olympic build-up after first gaining selection for the national squad as a 16-year-old back in February 2006.
"It's very disappointing obviously for her, these decisions are really hard to take and it's doubly tough for someone with over 50 caps to her name but she's young and it's certainly not the end of her career by any stretch of the imagination," Towns said.
In pool play, the Black Sticks are up against world heavyweights Argentina and Japan and like the men's team (also announced yesterday), much will depend on the team's ability to produce their best in Beijing.
The women's team have showed signs of improvement in recent weeks with two 3-0 wins over Spain and a 1-1 draw against the highly rated Chinese.
Womens' squad: Jaimee Claxton, Lizzy Igasan (North Harbour) Krystal Forgesson, Kim Noakes (Auckland) Gemma Flynn (Midlands), Kayla Sharland, Emily Naylor, Caryn Paewai, Tara Drysdale, Anita Wawatai (Central), Beth Jurgeleit, Niniwa Roberts, Sheree Horvath (Wellington), Kate Saunders, Stacey Carr, Jo Galletly (Canterbury).
Mens' squad: David Kosoof, Blair Hopping , Ben Collier, Steve Edwards (North Harbour), Ryan Archibald, Simon Child, Dean Couzins, Paul Woolford, James Nation, Gareth Brooks (Auckland), Casey Henwood, Kyle Pontifex, Phillip Burrows (Wellington), Shea McAleese (Central), Bradley Shaw, Hayden Shaw (Canterbury).