Ireland women hope for pre-olympic Tokyo trip
IRELAND’S women haven’t given up on the prospect of an Olympic warm-up trip to the tournament venue in Tokyo in March despite continuing concerns over the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sean Dancer’s team returned from a successful visit to Murcia earlier this week after winning a five-match series with Spain 2-1 with two games drawn against the world-ranked No.7 team.
While the temperatures reached 19 degrees there, they will be much higher in Tokyo in the summer, with humidity also a factor.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that Ireland feel they need to experience similar conditions in the build-up to the Olympics.
However, much of Japan, including Tokyo, is under a state of emergency at the moment with restrictions — including travel from abroad — to be reviewed next month.
Ireland assistant coach Gareth Grundie, however, revealed that “no decision has been taken yet” about the possibility of the pre-olympic trip.
If it does fall through, then Ireland are still committed to taking part in a two-week holding camp in Iwate, 325 miles north of Tokyo, a fortnight prior to the start of the Olympics in late July.
Options, though, it appears, are fast running out for alternative trips to hot weather climates if the March venture doesn’t take place.
Last year, before the Olympics were postponed, Ireland had planned to travel to either South Africa or Malaysia before coronavirus intervened.
Both of those venues are out of bounds at the moment, with the Malaysian National League called off last week, while a multi-nations men’s tournament in South Africa also bit the dust.
Meanwhile, Ireland head coach Dancer was upbeat after last week’s trip to Spain in which his side scored 14 goals in the five matches.
The Ireland head coach said: “You can train all you want, but nothing beats playing international hockey again.
“Not just for the competition, but also the mindset of the group. It has been a tough year for everyone everywhere and we are very lucky that we are able to continue some quality development towards our Tokyo goals.
“Even though our performances were not consistent, we did show periods of high quality play, including field goals in every game, and it’s always pleasing to see development in key areas that you are working hard on.”