The Daily Telegraph - 22.08.2019

Sluggish England reach semi-finals

By Rod Gilmour in Antwerp

Coach Mark Hager admitted

that an uninspired England

were “on another planet” as

Belarus came close to a seis-

mic shock at the EuroHockey

Championships yesterday.

England’s women la-

boured through to the semi-

finals 4-3 courtesy of a fine

goal by Hannah Martin with

four minutes remaining

against a Belarus side who

had leaked 24 goals in their

previous two games.

Hager said: “We gave them

respect but they upped the

ante and we were on another

planet. We weren’t sharp

enough and tried to take

players on when we

shouldn’t have.”

Victory left England on top

of their pool ahead of Ger-

many, who ended Ireland’s

hopes with a 1-1 draw. Yet no

team have stood out as title

candidates here, with Olym-

pic qualification on the line

for the winners.

In a wide open women’s

event, England will now meet

world champions Holland,

who have yet to hit their

stride.

England men will play Ire-

land today as they bid to

secure fifth place and finish

as the best home-nation

team. England, as centrally

contracted professionals,

will also be pitted in a relega-

tion pool against part-timers

Wales and Scotland.

Sport in brief

Cycling

Tour of Britain organisers

have applied to expand the

race to nine stages from

2020. A decision is expected
      from world governing body
      the UCI after its annual
      congress during the Road
      World Championships in
      Yorkshire late next month.

Rugby League

Greece have switched their

2021 World Cup qualifier

against Scotland. It was due

to have been held in Athens

but, because of governance

difficulties in Greece, it will

take place at the London

Skolars’ New River Stadium

on Friday November 1.

Cricket

Sussex have signed Australia

seamer Jason Behrendorff

for their final four Vitality

Blast South Group fixtures.

Sussex head coach Jason

Gillespie has brought in

Behrendorff following an

injury to fellow left-armer

Tymal Mills.

after taking double bronze at worlds

After that, she is unsure of her

schedule, but will not now com-

pete in the second Olympic qualifi-

cation series in Toulouse in

November. “The seven of us who

have qualified aren’t allowed to

take part. It will give me a brilliant

opportunity just to watch. Gaining

an outside perspective away from

the wall could be really helpful.”

After competing in Japan,

Coxsey is convinced the Olympic

climbing event will be one of the

highlights of next summer’s

Games.

“There’s so much support from

the locals, there were posters up

all over the city and the crowd

were really knowledgeable. Tokyo

will be the perfect stage for us to

prove we belong in the Olympics.”

With only one Olympic gold

medal available in climbing, the

competition will combine the three

disciplines of speed, bouldering

and lead climbing. Until now, Cox-

sey has been a specialist in boul-

dering, twice becoming world

champion. As preparation for next

summer, at the World Champion-

ships each athlete was obliged to

compete in all three disciplines,

then in a final combination.

“It was a brutal schedule,” she

said. “To do all three champion-

ships then the combined was ab-

solutely exhausting, mentally and

physically. A lot of the climbers

came away with fingertips bleed-

ing. I actually found it a lot of fun.”

Now that qualification is in the

bag, Coxsey will take a short break.

HOCKEY

How they

will start

in Atlanta

(US unless

stated)

-10

J Thomas

-8

P Cantlay

-7

B Koepka

-6

P Reed

-5

R McIlroy

(N Ireland)

-4

J Rahm (Spain)

M Kuchar

X Schaufelle,

W Simpson

A Ancer

(Mexico)

-3

G Woodland,

T Finau,

A Scott

(Australia)

D Johnson

H Matsuyama

(Japan)

-2

P Casey

(England)

J Rose

(England)

B Snedeker

R Fowler

K Kisner

-1

M Leishman

(Australia)

T Fleetwood

(England)

C Conners

(Canada)

S Im (Korea),

C Reavie

Even

B DeChambeau

L Oosthuizen

(South Africa),

C Howell III

L Glover

J Kokrak

New confidence:

Shauna Coxsey is

getting stronger pete

catio

Nov

have

take

oppo

an o

the w

Af

Cox

clim

hig

Ga

“

the

all

were

will

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to

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gett g st o ger

The Daily Telegraph Thursday 22 August 2019 ** 17

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