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| Saturday, 30 August 2003 |
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German women stickers play first match today A 23-member German Women's Hockey Team, the HC Essen, is touring Sri Lanka to play friendly matches against local teams. The tour under the motto "Games for Peace" is supported by the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees and organised by A.G.S.E.P. (Asian German Sports Exchange Program, headed by Dietmar Doering and Miss Apsara Gunaratne. Apsara Gunaratne is the captain of the National Hockey Team and took part in a one year exchange program in 2001/2002 with the HC Essen Germany. There she gained additional hockey skills which she now teaches local teams. With the Sri Lankan National Hockey Team she even won the silver medal in the Asian Hockey Federation Cup, therefore they can play first level next season. "Hockey is my passion since I was a little child and I am happy to meet my friends from Germany. As they are a tough team, I and the local teams can always learn from them and gain experience", Apsara said. The first match will be on Saturday August 30 at the Astro Turf in Colombo against the Central Province Team which consists of players from Kandy and Matale. On Saturday September 6, the second match will be played against the HC Essen Colombo, whose name was given to the team by Apsara to say thank you for her training in Germany and the sportive promotion that she got from the German HC Essen Club. The German teams' assistant coach Gabi Brammen is also looking forward to the matches and she is thankful for the chance to play in Sri Lanka as this is a chance to improve the relationships between the two nations. "Besides the sportive challenge we are mainly interested in personal ties. Hopefully we can give an impulse to further sports exchanges to spread inter-cultural understanding and friendship", Gabi said. |
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