Hockey: Mould picked for Britain

Hockey

Joanna Mould, the 25-year-old Leicester schoolteacher, is the only uncapped player in the 27 yesterday invited by Britain's coach, Sue Slocombe, to training sessions next month at the new Milton Keynes National Stadium, from which she will eventually announce her final 16 for the Atlanta Games, writes Bill Colwill.

Slocombe appears to have addressed the absence of any significant speed in her defence, a worrying factor in the Olympic qualifier, with invitations to Mould and to Kath Johnson, her Balsam Leicester team-mate.

Johnson, a highly experienced player with 123 international appearances, has been out of international hockey since the birth of her first child. She is a hard, fast, rugged defender and an invaluable acquisition to the squad which did battle in the Olympic qualifier in Cape Town last November. All 16 of those players have been included.

Two of the younger generation to be invited, 20-year-old Charlotte Merrett and her Clifton colleague, Lucy Culliford, may have to wait for the Sydney Games to get their chance although they have played for Wales and England respectively. There have been recalls for Sally Gibson, Tina Cullen and Lucy Youngs.

GREAT BRITAIN Olympic Training Squad: J Atkins* (Bradford Swithenbank), L Bayliss, M Davies*, H Rose*, J Sixsmith* (Sutton Canada Life), A Bennett*, K Brown*, M Nicholls* (Slough), C Cook*, T Cullen (Hightown), L Cope*, K Johnson, J Mould (Balsam Leicester), L Culliford, T Miller* (Clifton), J Thompson*, L Youngs (Ipswich) all England. S Fraser*, P Robertson* (Bonagrass Grove), S MacDonald*, T Robb (Glasgow Western Klick Photopoint), D Renilson*, R Simpson* ( Edinburgh) all Scotland. C Merrett (Clifton), Y Williams (Hightown), L Watkin (Swansea) all Wales.

* members of the Olympic Qualifying Squad