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December 6, 2007 SELECTION FOR OLYMPIC QUALIFIER April 2008 - Kazan, Russia  Antillean Head Coach Bas Swildens has announced its selection pool of 23 players currently preparing for the Olympic Women Qualifier in Kazan-Russia in April 2008. With the exception of Jamaine Festen who retired from the Team due to her studies, all players from this year’s Pan American Games Bronze Medal Team are bidding again for one of the 18 Kazan places available. Newcomers to the Team are: Claire Visser, Jolanda Clemens, Kim de Haas and Sanne Pauwels. In the Antillean National selection pool is:
The Antillean Women Team is currently on 20th places on the ABN-AMRO World Hockey Team rankings. | ||||||
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“The next 5 month will be a very focused and intense preparation leading players to their performance peak in the decisive Olympic qualifier in Russia”, Bas Swildens explains. “From now on, our players will be more or less 6 days per week involved in hockey. A series of friendly and international test matches will allow each player to show their true potentials. With no doubt the tournament in Kazan will feature strong opposition from France, India, Belgium, Russia and the USA. But we know that we have very talented players, a strong team spirit and a lot of substance resting in our Team. We are confident and will compete in Kazan to win. Though, each of our players will have to devote her full time and energy towards the Team. This means a lot of personal sacrifices. But the reward will be high. Winning in Kazan means going to the next Olympics. A tremendous honour for the Netherlands Antilles and anybody being in the Team”, Bas concludes.
