National hockey player Timur Oruz is happy about the increased media presence of his sport following the surprising world championship title. “We just enjoy the attention in the here and now. It’s something positive that we want to last in the long term,” the 28-year-old midfielder told SID on Wednesday.
“It couldn’t be nicer. I still feel like I’m on cloud nine,” explained Oruz, who celebrated the final victory over Belgium with his team a week and a half ago: “You couldn’t really let it sink in because a public Event chases the next.”
Among other things, Oruz and his teammates want to use these events in the coming period to further increase the attention of the fringe sport in the long term. “We want to show that we are very approachable world champions, unlike maybe other world champions in this country.” Especially with regard to the upcoming home European Championship in Mönchengladbach (18th to 27th August), the goal is “to take the upswing with us – so that we always have a full stadium”.
According to the man from Cologne, who plays for Rot Weiss in the Bundesliga, the third World Cup title for the selection of the German Hockey Association (DHB) after 2002 and 2006 also has an impact on the sporting situation: “Of course our role changes because we are now world number one and world champion.”
It is nevertheless important to “remain true to oneself” in order to achieve further successes in the near future, according to Oruz: “If we continue to work like this, we definitely have the potential to attack at the top again at the European Championships and at the 2024 Olympics must also be the goal.”