Germany eye hat-trick at Junior Hockey WC 2016

TIL Desk Sports/ Two-time consecutive winners of the Junior World Cup (2009 and 2013), the German national squad descended yesterday to Lucknow hoping to bag a hat-trick of titles. For the record, Germany has won the Junior World Cup six times in the past making them the most decorated team participating at the Hockey Junior World Cup Men 2016.

“Yes we have won the World Cup six times and we are here for a hat-trick. The World Cup happens once in four years and for many players it’s a one-time opportunity to play the World Cup and win the World Cup. So it’s not too difficult to motivate the team to do it again and this time they are chasing the goal of a hat-trick,” stated team’s head coach Valentin Altenburg, who was also the head coach for the senior men’s squad that won the Bronze at Rio Olympics.

Altenburg has been closely working with this junior team for three-and-a-half years and he believes this World Cup will be a stepping stone towards spotting players who will go on to play for the senior squad. “We already have a couple of Under-21 players who have played for the senior team and Timm Herzbruch played at the Olympics too. We see this as the stepping stone towards being on top of the world in hockey and Junior World Cup is the stage where you can see who can be your future,” he added.