SOUTH Africa will play host to a number of women’s World Cups this year, including the T20 Cricket World Cup, the Netball World Cup and starting this Sunday in Pretoria, February 5, the sixth Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH) Hockey Indoor World Cup presented by SPAR.

Three north Durban stars, Jess Lardant (Durban North), Chereé Greyvenstein (Glenashley) and Jess O’ Connor (uMhlanga) are hoping to leave their mark on the tournament and help the SPAR SA women’s team beat their best world cup finish which was ninth place in 2015.

The national team are hoping to use the support of a vociferous home crowd and finish in the top eight as well as secure a spot in the quarter-finals of the global event.

The tournament was originally set to take place in Belgium but was cancelled due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and is now being hosted in South Africa for the very first time.

It is a prospect that all three of the Crusaders Hockey Club members are relishing.

“This will be both Chereé’s and my first world cup. Having our friends and family in the crowd just gives you that extra lift. Often they aren’t able to travel when we tour overseas, so it will be awesome having them as part of those supporting us,” explained Lardant. “This will also be a special tournament for me as I will earn my 50th cap for South Africa which is such an amazing honour and something I’m very proud of.”

Her comments were echoed by her best friend and fellow teammate Greyvenstein.

“We are both former Danville Park Girls’ old girls, and we’ve been best friends for the past 11 years. I don’t think many people can say they played in a national team with their best friend at a world cup, and that to me is incredibly special. Like Jess mentioned, it is both our first world cup, so that will always be special. We hope to just add value to the team and meet our goals of finishing in the top eight,” she said.

For the captain of the team, O’Connor, the recent series loss against Namibia and win against Ireland at the end of last year proved invaluable experience for the team.

“It has been incredible to watch the development of the team. Their growth and belief has been unbelievable, especially in our most recent series matches. In terms of making the top eight, it is something we feel we can achieve realistically. We are a very young team who is still learning, which I think is the exciting part. The team has also had a skip in their step after the series win in Ireland, and we will be using that momentum to reach our goals in this world cup. We face some tough opposition in our Pool, but we are ready for every challenge we will face in Pretoria,” she said.

O’ Connor, who is the most capped SA indoor women’s player (124 caps to her name), said the prospect of extending her record with the most appearances isn’t her focus.

“To be honest, it has never been about the caps for me. I love leading my team and representing my country. Every game I get to put on the green and gold is an absolute honour. I just want to focus on both my and the team’s performance. We are just looking forward to playing in front of a home crowd who will be chanting for us. That will give us all the fire and passion we need,” she said.

The SPAR SA women’s team are in Pool A and will face off against two-time winners and tournament favorites Netherlands as well as Austria, Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America.

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