Germany’s hockey women got off to a brilliant start at the European Indoor Championships in Prague. The defending champions quickly set the course for victory against Ireland and jumped straight to the top of the table in Group A thanks to an unchallenged 6-0 (3-0) at the start.
Led by captain Fenja Poppe, the “Danas” left no doubt about the outcome of the game within eight minutes in the first quarter: Maike Scheuer (4th) and Philine Drumm (8th) scored for the team of national indoor coach Erik Koppenhöfer, before Poppe himself increased the score to 3-0 with a seven-meter penalty (12th). Germany was also happy to play afterwards: Poppe (24th) and Scheuer (29th) were successful again. Finally, Charlotte Gerstenhöfer completed half a dozen (38′).
While Koppenhöfer had warned in advance about the Irish as a defensively strong, “unpleasant opening opponent”, the first step towards the semi-finals of the “Project Prague” has been taken. The national team will play against Switzerland in the afternoon (4 p.m.), who lost their opener against Belgium 3-4. Austria will follow on Friday (5:20 p.m.) and at the end of the group phase Belgium will follow as opponents on Saturday (9:00 a.m.).