Hockey: Burrows discharged from Fiji hospital

New Zealand hockey player Phil Burrows is expected home tonight after being discharged from a Suva hospital where he was undergoing treatment for blood clot in an arm.

Burrows, the Black Sticks striker, will have further tests and treatment in Wellington for the mysterious clotting that was discovered after he scored six goals in New Zealand's 16-0 win over Fiji in the an Oceania World Cup qualifier last week.

He said he had been feeling "lethargic and a bit down" a few days before the game and noticed the arm swelling at halftime during the match.

"I finished the game and the arm had really ballooned so I went to get it checked out," he told NZPA from Suva today.

A concerned Burrows, 25, said the doctors who treated him were confused why someone as young and a fit as him would be troubled by a clot.

"I'm okay at the moment but the blood levels aren't flash so I have to undergo testing for some time when I get home.

"They don't really know why it happened. They said clotting in the legs in older people was more common and so they were quite baffled with mine."

Burrows, from Wellington, was discharged from hospital on Wednesday and was scheduled to board a New Zealand-bound flight tonight.

National coach Kevin Towns said he would meet Burrows tonight and he expected his senior striker to undergo tests and treatment for a while.

"We don't know whether it will rule him out of the Commonwealth Games (in March next year), but if he's on (blood thinning) medication we have to be careful because small knocks can cause severe bruising then," Towns said.

- NZPA