Hockey: US pull out of Olympic qualifier

Injuries, job conflicts and retirements have forced the US to withdraw from the London Olympic men’s field hockey qualification tournament in India. USA Field Hockey announced that the decision to pull out of the event, which starts from February 18 in New Delhi, was made after consultation with coach Chris Clements. “The decision has been made strategically with the very best outcome for our programme in mind,” said high-performance technical director Terry Walsh. “Unavailability of many of the senior players has left the men’s program in a position where our best assembled team has a performance potential well below that required to be competitive in a tournament of this calibre.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2012.