The New Zealand Men’s Hockey Team is well and truly settled into the Olympic Village after being some of the first athletes to enter late last week.
The 19-strong contingent arrived in Paris off the back of a two week training camp in Spain which saw them take on the Spanish in two matches – a 3-2 loss and a 6-1 win.
“We had a really successful build up in Spain,” said four time Olympian Simon Child, “but there’s absolutely no room for complacency and there’s a huge opportunity that lies ahead of us and we just want to make sure that we really grab hold of it with both hands.”
New Zealand come into Paris with some momentum behind them after securing their first tournament win in almost 10 years at the FIH Nations Cup in June, but they are fully aware of the task before them.
Olympic debutant Dom Dixon believes that they have a good chance at progressing out of the group stage.
“Our coach was saying that’s probably one of the closest Olympics for hockey in a long time, so anyone can really medal, but for us it’s just about taking things one game at a time.”
New Zealand open their Olympic campaign when they match up with India this Sunday at 3.30am NZT. Their pool matches will see them compete five times in seven days with defending champions Belgium, Argentina, Australia, and Ireland the other sides in their group.
