Gold for Ted and GB U21s

Great Britain U21s take Gold at the Sultan of Johor Cup

Men's 1s player and U16 Boys Coach, Ted Graves, was part of the gold medal winning Great Britain U21s team. With a win against Australia in the final the team took home the Sultan of Johor Cup in Malaysia.

Congrats to Ted and the team!

Ted shares his summary of the tournament:

"The Sultan of Johor Cup is an invitational tournament held every year in Johor Bahru in Malaysia. This year, the teams involved were Great Britain, India, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the hosts Malaysia. It was the second time I have been selected to represent the GBu21’s in the tournament and every year it is an amazing 2 week experience.

The tournament itself was held over the second week. The first week was spent training and acclimatising to the hot and humid conditions. After an approximately 13-hour flight and 1 night sleep, the first session is always tough as we try to get up to speed as a group. As the week progresses though, we become more adapted to the weather. Although nothing quite prepares you for the possible torrential rain that could start at any moment. 

Once the games start, the tournament is almost a blur. There were 5 pool games and then one placement game after that to determine the final standings. So, 6 games in 8 days. We started strongly, coming out fiercely to be Australia 3-1 in our opening game. Our gameplan was executed well and it was a brilliant team performance.

We were then beat by India 6-4 on the second day. This was a tougher test, and we were disappointed. However, staying level over the course of a tournament no matter the previous result is extremely important. We knew we could still make the final and win the competition so there was no panic within the group.

New Zealand came next and despite feeling that we had played well, we found ourselves 1-0 down heading into the last few minutes. We knew getting something out of the game would be crucial and so I was happy to be able to score the equaliser with a few minutes to go. It was a personal highlight for me at the tournament as despite not having our best game in front of goal we managed to secure what would be an important point come the end of the pool phase of play.

The next two games were against Malaysia and Japan. The Malaysia game was a dominant performance however the score line only ended in a 2-1 win. The next day we then faced Japan and with how the other results had ended within the pool we knew that if we beat Japan by 2 goals then we would secure ourselves a place in the final. We went up 1-0 early and then were knocked back to 1-1 but in the end, we managed to secure a 3-1 win. The feeling of getting over the hurdle and making a final was amazing however we knew the job wasn’t done and we later found out that it would be Australia joining us in the final. Having beat them in the opening game, this filled us with a lot of belief that we could win.

The final was crazy. The stadium was packed, and the atmosphere was electric. There were a lot of nerves within the group but also a sense of confidence that had grown within the team as the tournament had progressed. We didn’t get off to the start we wanted to though as we went 2-0 down within the first quarter. In that moment, heads could have dropped but that wasn’t the case for our team and so we slowly began to claw our way back. The goals then started to roll in and after some brilliant drag-flicks and a precise open play shot from the top-d we were back in control and winning 3-2 with a few minutes to play. Australia played well and fought hard for an equaliser. There was late drama as we had to defend 6 short corners in succession with seconds left on the clock. The PCD team were like a brick wall and could not be broken down. 

That was it. GB had secured its 4th Sultan of Johor cup win. The most of any team at the competition ever. It is an extremely special tournament and one like no other. You get to experience a completely different culture around hockey and get to challenge yourself to be able to play in hostile conditions and if you make the final, you get to pay in front of an electric crowd that come out in the thousands.

There were so many amazing parts to the trip that I can’t explain in one go however I would say my favourite was the time we got to spend on the pitch after winning the final. Sitting down, out of breath and really taking in the surroundings is something that you almost forget to do whilst you are playing. It was the first time in the 2 weeks where I could completely switch off from any thoughts of pressure or uncertainty. We were then all able to lift the trophy and then take what must have been thousands of photos. With lots of the locals in the stands and all the travelling friends and family allowed to come down onto the pitch as well.

Looking forwards with the u21’s, 16 out of the 18 that were part of the gold medal winning team are eligible for at least another year of the programme. Hopefully, this a sign of good things to come as we will look to repeat our Sutan of Johor Cup win next year and then all eyes will be then focused onto the Junior World Cup being hosted in India in December 2025 where we will look to win GB the title for the first time ever.