27.06.2015, Brussels; The first ever EuroHockey hockey 5s tournament started today in Malta at the national hockey centre with four U16 boys and girls teams competing. The boys teams are from Malta, Croatia, Slovenia and Turkey, and the girls teams from Malta, Croatia, Turkey and Italy.
The tournament is designed to test the Hockey 5s format in Europe ahead of the European Qualification tournaments next year for the Youth Olympic Games in 2018 in Argentina.
The teams arrived in Malta yesterday and all coaches and umpires received a briefing from Tournament Director Norman Hughes, Umpire Manager Rob ten Cate, and tournament organiser David Agius. EHF Vice President Carola Meyer was very pleased to open the tournament officially and she helped out on the technical table as a judge!
The day started today with some preliminary warm up games to give each team and the umpires the chance to try out the pitch and the rules, before we were shortly after into the main competition.
Slovenia and Italy started very strong with two big wins each in both the boys’ and the girls’ tournaments respectively, and they top the tables ahead of the final pool matches tomorrow morning.
The boys and girls teams from Malta are sitting at the bottom of the table overnight, but they certainly have the most support from an amazing crowd!!!
Follow the event on Facebook to see all media updates over the weekend: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hockey-Association-Malta/275857422448655?fref=ts
See all results here: http://ehf.ceelectwebsite.co.uk/competitions/2015-eurohockey5-mediterranean-cup-girls/
Today’s results:
| 11:30 | Turkey | – | Croatia | 3-8 (2-4) |
| 12:15 | Malta | – | Slovenia | 2-8 (1-5) |
| 14:30 | Slovenia | – | Turkey | 2-4 (2-1) ASO 0-2 |
| 15:15 | Croatia | – | Malta | 6-2 (3-2) |
Meanwhile in the girls event, Italy are the overnight leaders with 2 wins over Turkey and Malta.
| 13:00 | Croatia | – | Malta | 3-0 (2-0) |
| 13:45 | Turkey | – | Italy | 0-2 (0-2) |
| 16:00 | Croatia | – | Turkey | 0-5 (0-3) |
| 16:45 | Italy | – | Malta | 12-0 (4-0) |
See some footage below!
The event concludes tomorrow with the winners of both events being crowned the first ever EuroHockey5 Champions!
Pictured: The Italian team, very happy overnight leaders!