Medals at the Hockey Masters World Cup for our Horsham four

Four Horsham hockey players competed in the Hockey Masters World Cup in Spain - which was one of the largest international hockey tournaments ever held.
Suzy Clapp at Hockey MastersSuzy Clapp at Hockey Masters
Suzy Clapp at Hockey Masters

A total of 135 teams across the age groups took part, involving 25 nations. As this was the biggest sporting event organised in the city of Terrassa, four hockey venues were used including the main venue Club Egara and also the Marti Colomer Olympic Stadium.

Horsham were well represented with Rebecca Ross (over-35s), Suzy Clapp (over-40s), Fran Crossley (over-50s) and Sue Crake (over-55s) taking part in what was one of the toughest tournaments they have experienced due to the high temperatures.

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In the over-35 section, seven countries competed in a round-robin style tournament.

Sue Crake at Hockey MastersSue Crake at Hockey Masters
Sue Crake at Hockey Masters

In the first game, Ross netted twice in a 4-0 win over USA. England then went on to beat Sri Lanka 10-0, Ghana 5-0, hosts Spain 3-0 and Australia 2-1. Having already progressed, they then played out a 0-0 draw with New Zealand to top the group.

They faced Australia again in the final secured a 1-0 win to take the gold medal.

In the over-40s, 16 countries competed and were split into four pools of four teams.

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England started well beating Italy 7-0, New Zealand 3-1 and France 5-0 to win the group and advance to the quarter-finals.

Fran Crossley at Hockey MastersFran Crossley at Hockey Masters
Fran Crossley at Hockey Masters

They then beat a strong German side 1-0, but suffered a 2-1 defeat to Australia in the last four. Despite going 2-0 behind in the bronze medal match, a late winner saw them clinch third place with a 3-2 win over Holland.

The over-50s were also split into four pools and England were unbeaten, beating Wales 3-0, drawing with Germany 1-1 and beating Italy 6-0.

In the quarter-finals they beat Wales 2-0 which put them in the semi-finals against Australia and after a tough game went down 2-1. The bronze medal match was against Scotland which was won 2-1. Crossley was joint top scorer in her team with three goals.

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The over-55s were split into two pools and England beat Canada 7-1, Holland 3-0 and Ireland 3-0 to win the group.

Rebecca Ross and Suzy Clapp at Hockey MastersRebecca Ross and Suzy Clapp at Hockey Masters
Rebecca Ross and Suzy Clapp at Hockey Masters

The two top teams then went into a second pool to determine the medal matches. England played Australia and Scotland in two extremely tight games and won both 1-0 thanks to Crake’s goals.

England again topped the group and booked their gold medal match against Australia who had come second. The game was tied 1-1 at full-time and England stormed the penalties to retain the Masters World Cup.

Crake was topscorer in her team and extremely proud to be second topscorer in her age group.