LITHGOW masters hockey star Cheryl Rutherford has returned from the Masters World Cup in Canberra with a shiny bronze medal to go with her already bulging trophy cabinet full of medals.
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Rutherford played in the over 55s for Australia with other countries participating being England, New Zealand and Wales.
“It was a great tournament,” she said.
“To play against other countries is extra special.
“I had a chance to wear the green and gold a couple of years ago, but had to pull out with a fractured shoulder.
“It was good to catch up with Robyn Bannerman who was the umpires co-ordinator and also met up with another former Lithgow hockey celebrity Brent Deans who was catching up with some of the Scottish players.
“Brent was the coach of Scotland while living there and is now living in Canberra.
“I would like to thank everyone who helped me get to play for Australia.
“The next World Cup will be held in Madrid, Spain and I am hopeful for another call up in the Australian team.”
Results of the round games at Canberra were: Australia defeated New Zealand 1-nil, Wales 1-nil and went down to England 4-nil.
After a rest day, Australia drew with New Zealand nil-all, went down to Wales 1-nil and England 1-nil.
The competition was extremely tight as all teams registered wins, draws and losses with the ultimate prize of a spot in the gold medal game up for grabs.
The end result put Australia in third place to play for the bronze medal against Wales. Australia scored first with Wales hitting back to level the scores.
Wales scored again and Australia were down 2-1.
Australia received a setback when Rutherford sustained a stick to her forehead prior to the half time break and was escorted from the field for possible stitches.
As luck would have it, the Welsh brought a doctor with them and the female doctor assisted by putting sterri strips on the wound and, showing her courage, Rutherford returned to play in the second half.
It was good that she did as it was not long after that she took field, Rutherford scored the equaliser.
This lifted Australia and they scored two quick goals within the next five minutes and went to take the match and the bronze medal with a 4-2 win in an extremely exciting affair.
For the women’s event, eight nations were represented while in the men’s, 13 nations were represented, a total of 53 teams, 954 participants.
Teams nominated were from over 40s to over 60s.
Added to this were the technical officials, umpires and hundreds of volunteers to ensure the event happened.
