POLIGRAS TOKYO GT PROVIDES THE MAIN STAGE IN GERMANY
The 2023 Men’s and Women’s EuroHockey Championship was held from 18 to 27 August 2023 at the SparkassenPark, in Mönchengladbach, Germany. The thunderstorms that delayed the semi-finals were only one part of the electrifying action. The quality of the hockey was breathtaking with the highest level of skills, speed, power, and creativity on display.
The men’s competition saw 96 goals across 20 matches for an average of 4.8 goals per match. The women’s tournament treated fans to a similar goal fest with 79 over 20 matches. That is just shy of an average of 4 goals per game proving that the continuing development of 11-player swarm defending does not rob the game of goals.
THE NETHERLANDS QUALIFY FOR PARIS BUT THE OLYMPIC BATTLE REMAINS WIDE OPEN
At the end of an amazing week of hockey, The Netherlands emerged victorious in both the Women’s and Men’s tournament, qualifying them both for Paris 2024.
This was the Dutch women’s fourth title in a row, their dynasty continuing after an emphatic 3-1 win over Belgium.
The Dutch men beat England 2-1 in their final, to take gold. The current World Champions, Germany, coming fourth in the men’s competition demonstrates how tight the men’s tournament was.
With the Paris Olympics less than a year away it was encouraging to see the French men’s team do so well with a fifth-place finish. As demonstrated by their 2-1 win against world #8 Spain, they are capable of doing well in Paris.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE TEAMS
Congratulations to all teams for such high-quality play which attracted exceptional crowds and provided a wonderful spectacle for hockey. Teo Hinrichs (GER) and Charlotte Englebert (BEL) were also singled out for their efforts as deserving players of the tournament.
POLIGRAS TOKYO GT PROVIDES A SUSTAINABLE STAGE IN GERMANY
The main stadium turf at the Sparkassen HockeyPark was Poligras Tokyo GT, our first generation sugarcane turf made from 60% bio-renewable material. Polytan installed both this and the warm up turf to ensure the highest level of playing surface was available to teams throughout the tournament.
The Green Technology that was developed for the Tokyo Olympics has been further enhanced for the Paris Olympics, which will be played on hockey’s first carbon zero turf. The Poligras Paris GT zero turf is made from 80% sugar cane and has also been FIH Innovation-certified for dry hockey.
As German Hockey Federation partner, Polytan was also proud to be a major sponsor of the event and help bring such amazing hockey to life. Polytan has been making hockey better since 1975 when the first Poligras turf was installed.
Next up on Poligras is the delayed 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, which starts Sept 23. The winner of this will also qualify directly for Paris 2024.
