Belgium’s Indoor Red Lions’ hopes of delighting their home crowd next week in Leuven at the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship were given a massive boost with the inclusion of captain Philippe Simar.
The forward was a star attraction in 2022 in Hamburg when he top scored with 20 goals in their six fixtures.
He followed up with 15 goals at the World Cup in South Africa last February but his involvement for this tournament was put into doubt when he picked up a nasty knee injury before Christmas.
He has made it back in time for the competition and will give his side a real spearhead up front and from penalty corners.
On the downside, his Royal Léopold indoor team mate Romain Henet misses out through injury with Grégoire Brocorens coming into the panel alongside Matteo Gryspeerdt in the pads.
Gryspeerdt and Simar are among seven players in situ who played in the World Cup along with Nicolas Bogaerts Mallory Magnant, Nicolas Poncelet, Arnaud and Gaetan Dykmans.
National coach Maxime Bergez said of the selection of 12 players: “Of course we’re ambitious for this European Championship. We’ll be doing everything we can to try and win a medal in front of our fans!
“Almost as important will be the opportunity to show who the Indoor Red Lions are. The whole team has been working hard on the values that define us. We want to profile ourselves on the following four axes: DISCIPLINE – TEAM FIRST – WINNING MENTALITY – ENJOY.
“We’re convinced that if we stick to these values, we’ll be able to achieve great things.”
In preparation, they produced a series of strong results in early January against Czechia (6-2 and 12-2 wins along with a 6-5 loss) and Switzerland (5-4 and 6-3).
The home venue for the EuroHockey Championship will be set up already this weekend with the Sportoase in Leuven hosting the finals weekend of the Belgian indoor season.
Royal Léopold topped the regular season table with 32 points and so will play fourth placed Amicale Anderlecht. The other semi-final features White Star and Orée.
** 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.
