Goa to host Beach hockey tournament in November

Goa to host Beach hockey tournament in November


Six foreign teams and eight Indian teams to take part

By Armstrong Vaz

Margao: India is all set to join a select list of countries which have hosted the fast growing popular form of sport – Beach Hockey.

Colva beach, five kilometers from here, will be hosting a four-day tournament from November 7 to 10, informed Andrea Thumshirn, founder of the Hockey Village India project in Rajasthan and one of the organizers of the tournament.

“Beach Hockey is a fast, fun and furious. Beach Hockey is an international fast growing beach sport. There are Beach Hockey Tournament played in The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Italy, New Zealand, Argentina and Brasil. In 2014 the first Beach Hockey
World Cup will be played in The Netherlands,” informed Andrea, who has been a first division club player in German before shifting her base to Garh Himmat Singh Hockey Village, some 120 kilometres away from Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan.

“The tournament is an exhibition tournament for Beach Hockey and the tournament is scheduled to take place at Colva beach, Goa has been identified as the location because of the excellent sand quality and parking facilities,” informed the 38-year-old German, who was in Goa this week to oversee the arrangements.

“Andrea is hoping to raise funds for her noble project, the Hockey Village India in Rajasthan and also give Goan Hockey a new unique opportunity and to get Goa on the world map of Sporting Destinations,” said Peter Fernandes, a former Goa hockey player who is the
co-organiser of the event.

Since 2008, Andrea and a group of volunteers have been providing education (so far English classes) and hockey training to boys and girls east of Jaipur city. Recently Andrea’s Hockey India Foundation have tied up with to set up more hockey centres in selected locations
in India.

“Six foreign teams from abroad and eight teams from India will be taking part. Netherlands super star Floris Jan Bovelander, gold medalist at Olympics, World Cup and Euro Cup will be down in Goa to formally introduce the sport along with four International Beach
Hockey clubs from Germany and Holland,” informed Peter.

Bovelander is the founder of Beach Hockey and will be the central figure for the 1st Beach Hockey World Cup at The Hague Beach, The Netherlands which is due to take place in June 2014.

Since 1996 Bovelander & Bovelander are organizing all kind of hockey activities around all clubs in the Netherlands and abroad.

The brothers Floris Jan and Jeroen Bovelander are well known in the world of field hockey.

Floris Jan played in the National team from 1985 till 1996. He scored more then 200 times with his famous penalty corner and became Olympic, World and European champion.

Jeroen played for HC Bloemendaal and was physiotherapist from the first men's team of Bloemendaal and the Dutch girls under-21.

 Beach Hockey is the most spectacular form of Hockey and is played since 2004. It's a battle between 2 teams with 5 players each, played on the beach in an inflatable pitch. A small ball, the same size as a hand ball, is used instead of the original hockey ball, and it's played with special Beach Hockey sticks.

Beach Hockey is a short but intensive game (2x 6 minutes).

Most of the time the ball is played through the air and the fact that you can score from all distances Beach Hockey is a very spectacular sport.

This year the European Beach Hockey Tour will have tournaments in Belgium, Germany, Spain, France and The Netherlands.

History of Beach Hockey

2004 Introduction of Beach Hockey in the Netherlands
- First Dutch National Championship in Scheveningen (The Hague)
- 90 participants

2005 Official recognition by the Dutch Hockey Federation
- Two qualification tournaments
- Website www.beachhockey.nl is launched
- 600 participants

2006 More than 2.000 participants
- Over 80 Hockey clubs participate in the tournaments
- 14 tournaments and demonstrations are organized throughout the Netherlands
- First time Beach Hockey on national television

2007 More than 2.500 participants
- More than 100 participating hockeyclubs
- National media attention: Beach Hockey on Caz! Radio and SBS6

2008
- Beach Hockey tournament at Hotel Huis ter Duin, Noordwijk.
- More than 3.000 participants

2009
- First Beach Hockey Tournament in Germany and Belgium
- Beach Hockey tournaments at sand fields in Dutch inland

2010 Beach Hockey has officially been recognized by the European
Hockey Federation
- First BWM Euro Beach Hockey Tournament in Knokke, Belgium.
- First Beach Hockey Tournament in Spain

2011
- First edition: Kimman International Beach Hockey Masters in Noordwijk
- European beach Hockey Finals at Scheveningen Beach



2012
- International Beach Hockey Masters Noordwijk
- Beach Hockey Festival Scheveningen Beach



Location: Colvá, Goa, India

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