Hockey: Games medal next target

By JULIE ASH

The New Zealand men's side have their sights set on a Commonwealth Games medal after their top-10 performance at the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

Ranked 16th going into the tournament, New Zealand improved their position to ninth with playoff wins over Japan and India.

"The team are pleased to have got where they got," New Zealand coach Kevin Towns said, after returning home last night.

"We have learnt we are a lot closer to the top teams in the world, but we know that there are a lot of things we have to get right to continue, and one of those things is more competition against those sides."

New Zealand were to play Argentina in June, but Argentina's economic situation has forced the country's hockey association to cancel a number of overseas tours.

"We are planning a series in June, which now looks like it is going to be against Japan," Towns said. "They are very keen to play, but they have to go through their association and get the funding."

Towns said no matter what New Zealand's world ranking was, it would always be hard to entice international teams here.

"If they travel down to Australia they might carry on to us, but even Australia find it hard and they are second in the world."

After their performance in Kuala Lumpur, Towns said a top-three finish in the Commonwealth Games, which start on July 25, is not out of the question.

Three Commonwealth nations finished ahead of New Zealand in Kuala Lumpur - Australia, who lost the final to Germany, England, who finished seventh, and Malaysia, who were eighth.

"We looked at our goals after the World Cup and we firmly believe we are medal prospects.

"We are confident and ready for the Commonwealth Games."

However, Towns said there was still a fair bit to work on before then.

"Our goal shooting is an area of our game we need to sharpen up on. We created opportunities but didn't always follow through and our penalty corners at the start of the competition weren't going as well as we would have liked."

Towns said finishing ninth had been a great boost for New Zealand's men's hockey.

"For people that are keen to play hockey this shows there is a path to the top and to play for New Zealand at events such as the World Cup and the Olympic Games."