MELBOURNE, May 22: Australia’s men’s hockey team will defend their Athens Olympics title without experienced midfielder Nathan Eglington, Hockey Australia said on Thursday.

Eglington, who has played 136 international matches and scored 47 goals, tore a muscle in his groin a month ago and had rejected surgery in the hope it would repair itself. But the 27-year-old said the injury had not responded to treatment and he would be unable to play for at least six months, ruling him out of the Beijing Games.

“Obviously this is the most devastating injury that I have suffered throughout my career,” Eglington said in a statement.

“I don’t think it has really sunk in yet that I will be missing the Games but ...I am shattered.

“Probably the most frustrating thing is that over the past twelve months I have been completely injury-free and have been in fairly consistent form recently.”

He said it was too early to determine whether he would continue his career until after he recovered from the injury. The Beijing hockey tournament runs from Aug.10-23.—Reuters