Malaysian hockey fans will sorely miss watching Miles Bukkens of the Netherlands in the Men’s Junior World Cup (JWC) which starts on Tuesday at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
The 21-year-old Bukkens, a prolific goal scorer, suffered a meniscus injury and did not travel with the team to Kuala Lumpur. He is recuperating back home as the Netherlands continues their journey in this 13th edition of the JWC without him, and in the hope of creating history by winning their first-ever title.
Bukkens slammed a hat-trick to help the Netherlands beat Belgium 6-4 and end their campaign in fifth place in the 2021 Junior World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India.
The Netherlands coach, Jesse Mahieu, said: “I had already sensed that it would take more time for Bukkens to get well and join the team. He suffered the injury in the summer and has not recovered since in the league.”
He is one of the players to watch following a stellar showing at the European Junior Championships and the 2021 Junior World Cup in Bhubaneswar, India, where he scored 18 goals.
His absence will also mean that the opposing teams can sigh a big relief.
“Of course, I would have liked to have him here,” sighs Mahieu.
“He is a special player. He stirs things up and is difficult for defenders to read with his technical skills. But we ran out of time to wait for his recovery.
“I think he will be ready to play in February.
“We are enjoying the warm weather here. Of course, we won the European Championships but it does not make us the favourites. We are picking up the challenge. We have a couple of players here who are equally talented as Bukkens.”
Forward Duco Telgenkamp has been making a name for himself with the Netherlands senior side in recent times, finishing top scorer (6 goals) and being named Young Player of the Tournament at the EuroHockey Championship 2023 in Mönchengladbach, Germany.
In the absence of Bukkens, the Dutch will look to Telgenkamp and others to end an agonisingly 12 editions of despair in the JWC.
They are drawn in Group D with Pakistan, the inaugural JWC champions in 1979, Belgium, and New Zealand. The Dutch face their first litmus test against the Pakistanis on Dec 6.
However, unlike their women’s junior team, which has been the most successful side, having won four World Cup titles, the men’s juniors have yet to claim the World Cup since 1979.
The silver medallists in the 1985 and 2009 championships went on to win bronze medals in the 1979 and 2013 events. In the Bhubaneswar 2021 JWC in India, they finished fifth.
He said that the team’s training sessions in the Netherlands have been good, but preparations were short due to the domestic national senior league that ended last Sunday.
“The players were involved in the high-level senior domestic league until last Sunday. During the season, we trained with them on Mondays and Tuesdays, and during the summer, we did a lot of work with them,” he said.
