Czechia are contesting their 13th successive men’s EuroHockey Championship in the top tier this week in Leuven since making their debut in 1991 as they look to add a fourth medal to their tally.
They took silver in both 1997 and 2012 as well as bronze in 1994 and they will look to try and emulate those successes with a side with a young side and a fresh outlook.
They have an average age of just over 24 and Adam Uhlíř takes over the captain’s armband following the end of Martin Hanus’s national team career.
Their defence is by Petr Větrovský in goal who, despite his still young age, is already a very experienced and agile goalkeeper.
In offence, Lukáš Plochý (pictured) is one of the best players on the indoor scene with sharp skills and ruthless corners; he has played both in the Hoofdklasse and Australia and has over 50 international indoor goals.
Josef Toms and Patrik Dubina were both part of last year’s EuroHockey Under-21 Indoor Championship.
For Kryštof Šesták, it will be the first ever tournament for the senior national team and it is for goalkeeper Vojtěch Pažitka’s first men’s indoor tournament.
“The opportunity to wear the national team jersey is always an honour, it doesn’t matter if it’s in the hall or outside,” comments Pažitka on his debut .
“It certainly won’t be an easy tournament, but it would be disappointing for us if we didn’t qualify for the World Cup [with a top four position]. I would say that is probably the main goal.
“Of course, a medal position would also be great. It is true that we have a very young team. The preparation was intense, but all the more rewarding.
“We had enough training, we played nine warm-up matches against three different opponents. It showed us both positive things and shortcomings that we tried to eliminate in training.
“The preparatory tournament in Belgium was also particularly beneficial, where we played on a specific surface that will also be used for the championship.
“The significant difference was in speed and for us goalkeepers in the fact that we couldn’t slide properly. It was good to try it out before the tournament itself.”
** To find out more about the tournament and buy tickets, go to the event website here: https://ehic2024.be/
** The EuroHockey focus is on a massive February of indoor hockey with events taking place on four consecutive weekends.
For fans around the world, it means lots of top class action to enjoy on EuroHockeyTV with the following top level tournaments all broadcast live on a pay-per-view basis or with an already purchased EHTV pass.
