ong way.Boni says Always B Miki enters the Haughton Memorial a healthy, ha

Even as India look to make their own bit of history at the 11th Junior World Cup in mens hockey, which begins in Lucknow on December 8, it would be an occasion to remember for a nation that once featured regularly at the Olympics, but is now an outpost in the geography of the sport.Austria are making their first appearance at the junior level of the event, and the first in mens hockey at a global stage since the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. If you count their senior womens teams participation at the Olympics in Moscow in 1980, and the World Cup a year later in Buenos Aires, this is the first time an Austrian team is participating at the finals of a global hockey event in 35 years.Austria is a football-oriented country, and like in most other nations, hockey is competing directly against a lot of sports. In that sense, theres no pressure on the team, says head coach Cedric DSouza. The former two-time India coach took charge of the senior mens team in Austria in January 2016. Our team [ranked 21st among seniors] has the lowest ranking among all the teams participating. The most important thing here will be performance, says the former two-time India coach.DSouza, who was yet to take over when Austria qualified for the World Cup by finishing sixth at the European Junior Championship in Belgium two years ago, has brought a young side, with six of the 20-strong squad regulars of the under-18 team. The youngest of the lot, Oliver Kern, will be 17 years and 121 days when they begin their campaign against 2005 champions Argentina on Friday in a competitive Pool A, which also includes Australia and Korea.Austrian hockey has many talented youngsters, and our attempt is always to push as many players into international leagues as possible, since our Austrian league is not that strong, says DSouza, who has already integrated all the members of the junior team from 2014 into the senior setup. Five of the players in Lucknow - captain Leon Thornblom, Franz Lindengrun, Florian Steyrer , Pit Rudofsky and Oliver Binder - are regulars in the senior team, with four of them featuring in the World League Round 1 in Turkey in September where Austria finished first. Lindengren and Thornblom play club hockey abroad with Hamburg, while Binder also plays in Germany for Harvestehuder, the same club as 2013 player of the year and two-time Olympic gold medallist Tobias Hauke.The preparation for this team has been unlike any other for this junior World Cup, explains DSouza. All these players stay with their club most of the time. I would perhaps get the weekend with them, and I would do five sessions with them across Friday, Saturday and Sunday.The Austrian league concluded on October 24, and following a two-day rest, they set off on a sequence of 13 practice games across four countries, winning four and losing five of the games. The notable results were beating the Bangladesh senior team in two matches, and also notching up two wins on the tour of Netherlands, where they faced the under-21 team and also faced a couple of local clubs. It was an impressive performance from a team in which the only recognisable star is defender Benjamin Stanzl, who also plays under DSouza for the Delhi Waveriders in the Hockey India League (HIL).Playing with youth, sometimes their exuberance can get the better of them, and lead them to lose focus. Lets not forget that most of the countries here have a number of players that regularly play for the senior teams as well, says DSouza, talking of the depth of field in Lucknow. You look through the rosters of Australia, Germany, New Zealand - they have had some exposure at the highest level. And lets not forget the Indian team. Each of their players has been exposed to high-quality hockey thanks to the HIL. They have been preparing together for this event for a good while now, and they will be very hard to beat.DSouza says he took over with a clear mandate; that of seeing the senior team through to the 2020 Olympics, and that remains their target even as their younger generation take their bow at a global event. And that is what he stresses upon when asked if the team should take inspiration from having qualified for the World Cup at the expense of 2013 runners-up France.Weve had a good five weeks or so together. We are aware of our strengths and weaknesses, and well enjoy this tournament. 2020 was the vision we had when I took over, and that is the aim for this tournament. The ones who perform well will hopefully start pushing those in the senior team for places, says DSouza. Milwaukee Brewers Shirts . Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists as Dallas snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Wholesale Brewers Jerseys . PAUL, Minn. https://www.cheapbrewers.com/ . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. Brewers Jerseys China . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style. Brewers Jerseys 2019 .Y. - Rob Manfred was promoted Monday to Major League Baseballs chief operating officer, which may make him a candidate to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner. Round Two in what is hoped to be a season-long series of pacing showdowns is set to take place at the Meadowlands Racetrack on Saturday, and at least one owner involved with the principal characters will cherish every minute of it. He likely wont be alone.Highlighting the $471,800 William R. Haughton Memorial for older male pacers is another much-anticipated battle between 5-year-old Always B Miki and 4-year-olds Wiggle It Jiggleit and Freaky Feet Pete. The trio will have its second head-to-head-to-head meeting in what is the most talked-about rivalry in harness racing in years.Always B Miki won the first match-up at the July 2 Ben Franklin Pace at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, beating Freaky Feet Pete by three-quarters of a length in a world-record-equaling 1:47. Wiggle It Jiggleit, the 2015 Horse of the Year, took third.Last weekend, Wiggle It Jiggleit beat Freaky Feet Pete at the Graduate Series championship at the Big M, but the race was only for 4-year-olds so Always B Miki wasnt eligible to compete.Before the Ben Franklin, I cant recall seeing as much dialogue on a race in a very, very long time, said Bob Boni, one of Always B Mikis owners. There was a real buzz all week about that. It started out this week with similar sentiments. Everyone is wondering whats going to happen in the race?I think its drawn a tremendous amount of attention. Its on a great card, a lot of people are going to see it. Weve got a number of other times when were scheduled to hook up, potentially, and I think it will be something that will continue to grow because its a very talented field of older horses.It is something that Boni and his fellow owners (Bluewood Stable, Roll The Dice Stable and Christina Takter) do not take for granted.Were very fortunate and very appreciative, Boni said. Those are the words I constantly use. Ive been very blessed that Ive had some pretty good horses over the years. Mikis the latest right now and hes about as good as anybodys horse. Its a great thrill, but you cant race horses on this level for a long time and not appreciate how fortunate you can be and how great it is to be around horses like this.Especially when it comes to Always B Miki, who was sidelined for nearly a year because of injuries but has returned to win nine of 11 starts with two second-place finishes and earn $642,710 since last October.In seven starts this season he has five wins and two seconds, winning $341,500. Trained by Jimmy Takter and driven predominantly by David Miller, he has finished in the money in 36 of 42 career starts, with 23 wins and $1.56 million in earnings. Roger Welch trained him as a 2-year-old and Joe Holloway had him at age 3, and Boni credits everyone involved for making the pacer the horse that he is today.His chief rivals on Saturday have equally impressive statistics, which has helped create the excitement. Wiggle It Jiggleit -- owned by George Teague Jr. and Teague Racing Partnership, driven by Montrell Teague, and trained by Clyde Francis -- has won 32 of 40 lifetime races. Freaky Feet Pete -- bred by Larry Rheinheimer, who trains the stallion for his wife Mary Jo and son Marty -- has won 29 of 35 careerr starts.ddddddddddddlways B Miki drew post five in the Haughton Memorial while Freaky Feet Pete is in post seven and Wiggle It Jiggleit is in 10. The race attracted 12 starters, so it will be contested at 1-1/8 miles rather than the traditional one-mile distance.We always have confidence in him, Boni said. Jimmy and David have just done a great job with the horse. Its going to be fun all year racing. Well go at it again and Ill always say the same thing, I like our chances, as Im sure the other guys will say too.The Ben Franklin was a hard-fought race and they all were competitive, they all took shots and they made it a very good event. How its going to happen this week I have no idea because if you try to talk to anyone that tried to handicap the Ben Franklin, I dont know anybody who handicapped it the way the race fell.Boni feels what is interesting is that all three horses are Indiana-sired and none of the three are owned by major stables, which he feels should give hope to other owners out there.Were essentially a small stable, were one horse, he said. George Teague races a moderate stable and the Rheinheimers, this is the first time theyve been exposed on this level, so these are not some of the names that youve seen in recent years. Thats a very healthy thing. The naysayers that say you have to buy expensive horses and have to have a big stable, thats not always the case. You can compete. It can happen at any time.In assessing the horses, Boni feels each one has their unique qualities and some similarities.Very little seems to bother Wiggle It Jiggleit, he can race on any size racetrack, and Freaky Feet Pete, the same thing; hes been a terrific horse from his 2-year-old season, he said. They all have brilliant high speed. I would say the other two probably leave the gate faster than Miki does. Hes not quick off the gate. But once they get settled in they can all go very fast and they show they can go fast a long way.Boni says Always B Miki enters the Haughton Memorial a healthy, happy horse.It would have been nice if we didnt have those injury issues, but he did, the owner said. In a somewhat bizarre way, I think hes a better horse for it. Hes much sounder now.Its because of those injuries that Always B Mikis group continues to cherish all the good things that happen now.I dont think theres anybody here that takes any of this for granted and if anybody did, Mikis had a way of reminding us with a couple incidents that we better not take it for granted, Boni said with a laugh. I think were all very appreciative. I dont know anybody who doesnt appreciate what he does.The Haughton Memorial is part of a stakes-filled card Saturday at the Meadowlands. Among the nights other races are the Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace, Mistletoe Shalee, Hambletonian Maturity, and divisions of the Stanley Dancer Memorial and Delvin Miller Memorial.--By Rick Fisher-Courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, please visit www.ustrotting.com. ' ' '