The Australian Hockeyroos women’s hockey team has been announced for the 2010 Women’s World Cup taking place in Rosario, Argentina, from 30 August to 11 September 2010.

All members of the 18-strong team are Australian Institute of Sport athletes: Nicole Arrold, Teneal Attard, Madonna Blyth, Alison Bruce, Toni Cronk, Casey Eastham, Kate Hollywood, Kate Jenner, Fiona Johnson, Amy Korner, Shelly Liddelow, Rachael Lynch, Kobie McGurk, Georgia Nanscawen, Ashleigh Nelson, Megan Rivers, Jayde Taylor and Kim Walker.

The Hockeyroos will be aiming to win their third World Cup after last winning the title in 1998, and will be looking to emulate the World Cup victory of the Australian Kookaburras men’s hockey team earlier this year.

Coach Frank Murray said that the Hockeyroos team represents a good mix of youth and experience and will perform strongly at the World Cup.

‘Both Jenner and Taylor did well on the tour of Europe and earned their spots. Taylor brings a bit of intellect and composure to our defence and Jenner brings a bit of youthfulness and energy,’ said Murray.

Further strengthening the squad, Murray said he had no hesitation in selecting Kate Hollywood and Casey Eastham who had been in some doubt for selection due to recent injuries.

‘Both players will be fine for the World Cup. Eastham has been very good at training and has overcome her knee injury, she is moving really well. Hollywood, who broke her hand during the tour of Europe, is as fit as I have ever seen her. She is raring to go to the point where we are actually holding her back so she doesn’t over do it,’ said Murray.

Murray said that the Hockeyroos had produced strong results over the last year.

‘Our results over the past 12 months have been good in that we have beaten England, Germany and Argentina, so we know we are capable of beating all of these teams at the World Cup,’ Murray said.

‘We have only played the Netherlands once in the past year but we came away with the win so we will take confidence from that.

‘We first need to make it through the pool stage, but barring any major injuries winning the gold medal or a medal is not beyond us,’ said Murray.

The AIS Hockey program in partnership with Hockey Australia provides a development pathway for talented players to gain valuable experience in high performance competition and to earn selection in the Australian national squad.