On Sunday the South African men beat Ireland 4-3 in a thrilling final in Potchefstroom to be crowned as the first-ever Nations Cup champions. The win has also earned the Proteas an invite to play in the FIH 2023 Pro League.

The South African women are in a tricky Pool B for the Nations Cup along with Chile, India and Japan.

The coach, Giles Bonnet, told OFM Sport that they men have inspired them although their big focussing in on building for the next Nations Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.

“We are all very inspired by the men and their win yesterday against Ireland, it was fantastic to watch,” said Bonnet.

“We have selected a new squad with our eye on Paris Olympics 20 months away. The Nations Cup in Valencia gives us a great opportunity to match up against teams we met in the World Cup five months ago and assess our progress.

“We are looking to close the gap with the top teams in this tournament and our road map to achieve this will be closer to the 2023 Nations Cup.

“Whilst that remains the medium term goal, we will be looking at this event to continuously put ourselves under pressure to compete against these teams.”

South Africa will face Italy from Pool A in two warm-up games before getting their campaign underway on Sunday evening at 18:30 against Chile.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport