The Netherlands:

Amsterdam announced the Long -awaited arrival of Li Hong. So the Chinese International settles in the Tulip main class. In recent years, the Dutch competition has seen many controversial Asian field hockey players come and go. We mention six special players from this continent.

Shahbaz Ahmed
Let’s start this special company with one of the best field hockey players of all time. Shahbaz Ahmed was one of the last superstars of Pakistani field hockey, just before the period in which water fields appeared in the Veldhockey. The man with the electric heels was a regular attraction on the fields in the late 1980s until the end of the nineties. His long dribbles, at full speed – hence that nickname – were unprecedented. After the 1998 World Cup he ended up in the Netherlands, with Oranje Zwart. For two years he was a crowd puller in Eindhoven, where his teammates gave him a different meaningful nickname: Field Hockey King.

Sardar Singh
Unfortunately, the arrival of Sardar Singh proved that things do not always end well with foreign stars. Another Asian dribbling specialist with hero status in his own country. There, around 2010, he was hope after a number of gloomy Indian field hockey years and the best paid player in the Hockey India League 2013. Meters-high posters of Sardar hung in New Delhi. That image (and his performance in the national team) created high expectations when the Indian left for Bloemendaal later that year. A fairytale marriage in advance. In practice it got wrong. There was no time and room for Singh’s old school who dribbled in the main class, so he lost his shine. After only six months, the two parties separated. The Match made in heaven In the end it turned out to be an illusion.

MA is
Unfortunately, not all facts are equally well documented in Veldhockey. So we cannot report with certainty how many Chinese players Li Hong preceded. Not much, we dare to say. One of the last Chinese field hockey players to appear in the big league was Ma Yibo. A figurehead of field hockey in China at the beginning of this century. The silver medal winner of 2008 was known for its scoop and Hoek. She often presented it in Pinoké in 2009-2010, which at the time fought against relegation. In the pouring rain, away from Push, Yibo became the hero of the play -offs. Thanks to her hat trick, the Dutch remained in the big league. Oh yes. At the same time, Song Qinling came from China to Pinoké with Yibo. The striker made less impression than Yibo, but gave an assist in the farewell match against Push.

Sohail Abbas
Another Pakistani legend, who broke through a few years after Shahbaz. Sohail Abbas had made the scoring of goals made of his life’s purpose. And he too had such a brilliant nickname: The King of the Dragflick. Abbas was indeed a drag flick specialist. In 311 international competitions he scored 348 goals, and according to tradition, nobody scored more international goals than Abbas. The defender was also extremely productive in the big league with Amsterdam (1999-2000) and Rotterdam (2005-2009). In addition to more than eighty goals, he also claimed himself from the field. Abbas was one of the initiators of the benefit game between international players and the Dutch team, when Pakistan was struck by an earthquake.

Karia is the short news of ours.

Kaori Chiba
Japanese internationals regularly descend on the big league. About eight years ago, Shihori Oikawa and Hazuki Nagai played in Oranje-Rood. A little more recent, Moeka Tsubouchi and Kaho Tanaka came to Klein Switzerland. They all followed in the footsteps of one of the best field hockey players of all time of their country: Kaori Chiba, the triple Olympian who played with Rotterdam between 2007 and 2010. The small midfielder lived through the aftermath of the top years at Hazelaarweg and scored goals regularly. In between, she was nominated twice for the title of World Player of the Year. And still no Japanese player can match her.

Young to that
The best South Korean field hockey player of all time cannot be omitted from this list. Jong-Ho Seo hardly spoke the Dutch language, but conquered field hockey hearts wherever he went. In Klein Switzerland and especially in Laren and Pinoké, the lightning -fast attacker made a big impression. This was also due to his fearlessness. SEO dived and flew to every ball, such as the Asian version of Roel Bovendeert. Hyo-Sik also came to the Netherlands in the same period (about fifteen years ago). He was in the shadow of SEO, but is still active in top hockey: as an international referee. In Seo’s Slipstream, his girlfriend Hy-Loung Han also came to Laren and Pinoké. Unfortunately for those clubs, she did not get close to the level of her partner.