By Marcus Uhe
Keysborough product Nathan Ephraums earned a last-minute call up to the Australian men’s hockey team last week for the Paris Olympic Games.
Ephraums replaced Jake Whetton in the squad for Australia’s first match of the tournament against Argentina on Saturday night, in which the Kookaburras scored a 1-0 victory.
The striker was one of the stars of the Kookaburra’s gold medal winning efforts at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Having missed selection for the Tokyo Olympics 12-months prior, Ephraums scored six goals at the Commonwealth Games where he was the youngest member of the squad, including two in the gold medal contest against India.
He was a member of the Kookaburra’s squad that secured qualification for the Games in 2023
It’s a maiden Olympic Games experience for the 25-year-old, who will add firepower to an already stacked Kookaburras squad that is once again expected to contend for a medal, having won silver in Tokyo.
His availability for the remainder of the Games will hinge on the fitness of Whetton, who sustained a low-grade hamstring injury in the Kookaburra’s second warm-up clash for against Great Britain on Wednesday last week, the Australian Olympic Committee said.
As of Monday morning, 29 July, he was not been named in the squad to face Ireland on Monday night, the second contest of the campaign for the Australian team.
The Kookaburra’s next fixture is scheduled for 3.45am Australia Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday morning when they tackle Belgium.
