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Field hockey elite meet in Germany for Beijing warm-up

Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, Australia, China and Japan will meet in the women's field hockey Champions Trophy starting in Mönchengladbach on Saturday, the last major international tournament before the Beijing Olympics in August.

Australia have won six Champions Trophys and the Netherlands five of the 15 played, with Germany, Argentina, Korea and China sharing the other four. Top-ranked Netherlands is unlikely to add to their tally of wins as they have nine players with less than 10 international matches at this tournament.

Nine top Dutch players are turning out for the Den Bosch and Amsterdam clubs contesting the Dutch premier league final next weekend. Dutch coach Marc Lammers said he would settle for third place.

“We do not have our strongest team here but it is good enough to play nice games. With this team the best result for us is to be third. I don’t think we will be in the final with this team,” Lammers said.

Germany coach Michael Behrmann underscored the importance of this tournament as preparation for Beijing.

“This tournament is a very important step towards selection for this squad of 18 players and there are three more still under consideration,” Behrmann said.

Behrmann favours Australia to win the tournament and shatter the precedent which has seen the winner of the 2000 and 2004 Champions Trophy failing to win the following Olympic Games.

“If I believed that myth we would not bother to go to Beijing if we win this tournament,” Behrmann said.

Australia coach Frank Murray disagreed that his team are favourites and has brought 19 players to Moenchengladbach; 16 will go to Beijing. “The pressure on the players for selection and maybe all the pressure distracts them from playing better,” he said.

Seung-Jin Yoo, Japan’s coach, has a plan to deal with Argentina and Germany as they are all in the same pool at Beijing.

“We will play 80 percent against those teams and keep 20 percent hidden from them,” Yoo said.

The first matches of the Champions Trophy on Saturday see Australia play Japan; Netherlands take on Germany and China face Argentina.

TRAVEL

Denmark opens up to inbound travel from six countries outside EU

from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Thailand. But Danish residents are only recommended to visit the countries "if strictly necessary".

Denmark opens up to inbound travel from six countries outside EU
Danes are still not recommended to travel to Australia. Photo: Loren Elliott/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix
The decision to allow residents of the six countries to enter Denmark was made by representatives of Denmark's infectious disease agency SSI, together with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, based on the 15 country “safe travel list” agreed by the European Council on Monday. 
 
Denmark judged that residents of Algeria, Georgia, Montenegro, Morocco, Rwanda, Serbia and Uruguay — which all made the European Council list, are not safe enough according to Danish standards, but gave no reasons for its decision. 
 
Denmark's foreign ministry said it would also continue to advise Danish residents against unnecessary travel to the six countries, as they all impose quarantine restrictions on people arriving from Denmark. 

“This means that all travel guides for these countries remain 'orange', the foreign ministry said in a statement. “So it goes without saying that all unnecessary journeys continue to be discouraged to countries outside the EU / Schengen and UK.” 

“If a country that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only recommends to travel because of entry restrictions or quarantine requirements, lift these, the travel guidance will be eased.” 

For the same reason, the UK, Ireland and Romania are still rated 'orange' by the foreign ministry, because of quarantine requirements imposed on Danish citizens. 

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