SA looking to better World Cup appearance

The SA Women™s hockey side will be looking to start their 2022 Women's FIH Hockey World Cup campaign on a positive note.

Giles Bonnet™s side open their tournament against Belgium on Sunday, 3pm at the Estadi Olímpic de Terrassa, Terrassa in Spain.

South Africa are pitted in Pool D of the competition alongside fifth-ranked Belgium, Australia and Japan.

Bonnet™s side will be looking to improve from their showing from the last edition in 2018 where the team failed to progress passed the group stages after only managing one draw in three matches. Bonnet made a return to the role he held between 2010-2014 where he led the team into the top 10 in the world rankings.

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South Africa qualified for the World Cup after they won the eighth edition of the Women's Hockey Africa Cup of Nations which was held in Ghana. However, the makeup of the squad in the World Cup is slightly different from the team that won the continental competition.

œThe team from the Africa Cup looks slightly different from what the team looks now. Different management, couple of players different but our core group has remained fairly the same and I think we will be taking that momentum with, says goalkeeper, Phumelela Mbande.

By Busisiwe Mokwena