www.englandhockey.co.uk
The feeling of heartbreak from defeat in the 2014 Commonwealth Games final has been hard to shake for Maddie Hinch.
Despite two gold medals at the Rio 2016 Olympics and 2015 EuroHockey Championships, England’s goalkeeper admits that the disappointment from Glasgow is still ‘raw’.
England’s women head out to the Gold Coast of Australia looking to win their first Commonwealth Games Gold medal after taking silver at Glasgow 2014 and bronze at Delhi 2010.
Hinch explained: “The memories experienced in Glasgow are still quite raw. To lose a gold medal from our grasp with 12 seconds remaining was pretty heartbreaking.
“It would be nice to get one over the Aussies in their own backyard, but at the end of the day we need to make sure we deal with our group first which is full of tough opposition, we have to take it one game at a time.
“We are all really excited about the tournament and we have a really exciting group of girls out here in Australia. We are excited to see what we can do.
“Everyone is in good shape and it’s a massive tournament play at and it’s all about being ready for that first game with South Africa, making a really strong start to build momentum and hit the ground running.”
The Commonwealth Games sits at the front of the minds of the squad but Hinch admits the thought of the Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup in London this summer is an exciting one: “At the end of the day with the World Cup it’s hard to forget its round the corner and it’s incredibly exciting.
“But our focus right now goes all on the Commonwealth Games to give our all and to bring home a medal.”
2018-04-16