Lithgow hockey players 24-year-old Brandan Horner and 22-year-old Amelia Leard have brought home gold and silver medals from the Australian National Indoor Hockey Championships also known as the Australian Indoor Hockey Festival.
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The two hockey stars travelled to Goulburn where they competed from January 23 to January 26, with Horner playing in the NSW Open Men’s side and Leard in the Open Women’s.
More than 100 indoor hockey teams competed in the tournament in a range of divisions over the month of January.
Horner has been playing outdoor hockey for 19 years and indoor for the last five.
This was his second year with the NSW Open Men’s indoor side.
Horner said his squad was lucky to bring home the gold with a 4-3 win over ACT in the final, with Horner tucking away a goal.
“It was an intense match and we were very nervous towards the end trying to hold onto the lead,” he said.
The NSW Open Men’s have a winning streak of 11 national titles and Horner said it was his second gold medal with the team.
“It was an awesome feeling to win again, to keep the winning streak going and we definitely celebrated after,” Horner said.
With indoor hockey completed for the year Horner said he hoped to be selected in the Australian squad again for a second year in which he will tour Austria later in the year.
Leard has played hockey since the age of four and made her first NSW indoor hockey team when she was 13.
“I started playing at a young age because my older sister played and got me into it,” she said.
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Leard has been a part of the NSW Open Women’s side for the past three years and finished among the top goal scorers at last years’ championships.
This year her squad went undefeated in the four day tournament up until the final, going better than last year when they finished in fourth position.
NSW went down 4-1 in their final against Western Australia taking home the silver.
“It was disappointing to lose in the final but we got a much better result than the previous year so we came out feeling pretty positive,” she said.
Leard also said Hockey Australia would evaluate performance from throughout the indoor tournament to form the Australian squads.
“I’m hoping to make this [Australian squad] and tour at the end of the year.
“I’ve previously travelled to the USA in the Australian Indoor development team,” she said.
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