Irish men's coach Dave Passmore has confirmed his squad for the BDO Hockey World Cup Qualifier in Changzhou, China, which gets underway on Wednesday, April 12.
The team are currently ranked 22nd in the world but this ranking does not reflect their true position when recent good performances against South Africa, France and Egypt are taken into account.
The team are boosted by the return of Karl Burns after a lengthy lay off with a hamstring tear injury. The Cork Church of Ireland clubman passed a final fitness test at the weekend and, under expert guidance from the medical team, has worked daily on an intensive rehabilitation programme.
In their pool, Ireland face Commonwealth silver medallists Pakistan and a very powerful English side, who finished fourth at the Melbourne Games. They will also meet a very good tournament side in Belgium. Canada and an Egyptian team that Ireland has beaten in their last three meetings are the remaining sides in their pool.
In pool B China, Japan and Korea are expected to contest the top placings but will be challenged all the way by a Malaysian side that won bronze at the Commonwealth Games and a very strong New Zealand side, as well as France.
The format of the tournament sees twelve teams split into two pools of six. At the end of the qualifiers, the top five ranked teams will qualify for the respective World Cup later this year.
The pools operate on a round-robin basis, with the top two in each pool automatically qualifying for the World Cup. The third and fourth place teams in each pool play-off for that final elusive qualifying spot. Ireland must finish within the top four in their pool in order to be in contention for a qualifying spot.
After the pool stage, each team will have another two matches to decide their final tournament classification. World ranking points will be awarded at this tournament.
The men's Hockey World Cup takes place from September 6-17, 2006 in Monchengladbach, Germany.
Irish men's squad:
1 Andy Barbour Cookstown 50 caps
2 Jason Black Cork Harlequins 95
3 Mark Black Cork Harlequins 64
4 Paddy Brown (Capt) Instonians 102
5 Karl Burns Cork C of I 41
6 Stephen Butler Glenanne 90
7 Timothy Cockram Lisnagarvey 25
8 Mark Gleghorne Loughborough 34
9 Ronan Gormley Pembroke Wndrs 17
10 Charlie Henderson (GK) Corinthians 21
11 David Hobbs Cork C of I 65
12 Mark Irwin Instonians 86
13 John Jermyn Cork C of I 31
14 Iain Lewers Annadale 37
15 Phelie Maguire Dublin Univerity 21
16 Mark Ruddle (GK) Cork C of I 7
17 Graham Shaw Glenanne 76
18 Justin Sherriff Pembroke Wndrs 83
