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SYDNEY Striker Kieran Govers with only three international games experience is the surprise inclusion in the Australian squad for the field hockey World Cup in India, Hockey Australia said on Monday.
Govers, 21, was chosen by national coach Ric Charlesworth despite only taking up an Australian Sports Institute scholarship last month and making his international national debut in the recent three-Test home series against South Korea.
Govers, who can also play as an attacking midfielder, will look to establish himself alongside the team goalscorers, Des Abbott, Grant Schubert and Glenn Turner as key playmakers Jamie Dwyer and Eddie Ockenden spend more time in the midfield.
Otherwise, the selected 18-man squad closely resembles the team which won the Champions Trophy tournament in Melbourne last December as Australia bid for their first World Cup victory in more than 24 years.
The Kookaburras have finished runners-up at the last two World Cup tournaments and have won the World Cup once in 1986.
From the 2009 Champions Trophy squad, Brent Dancer and Brent Livermore have been omitted from the World Cup squad.
Livermore, who missed the 2008 Beijing Olympics through injury, is only five games away from breaking Jay Stacy's Australian games record of 321.
Defender and 2008 Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Kiel Brown has returned to the team after missing selection for the Champions Trophy squad.
“I believe there is at least half a dozen teams who are capable of winning,” Charlesworth said.
“Although we will be one of the favourites, the only pressure we will have is the internal pressure we put on ourselves to play well.
“This tournament is a big event, it will be very exciting and a new experience for a lot of them to play in India for the first time.”
The World Cup takes place in New Delhi from February 28 to March 13.
