[img_assist|nid=3736|title=Captain for the day|desc=Helen Richardson – pic Andy Smith|link=node|align=left|width=220|height=311]The Great Britain hockey team will be without captain Kate Walsh for their second pool match against Korea, taking place at the Riverbank Arena at 4pm today.
Walsh spent a second night in hospital following surgery to have a plate inserted into a fractured jaw. The defender was injured in the second half of the opening match against Japan on Sunday, a match GB won 4-1.
Helen Richardson takes over as captain in Walsh’s absence, a role she also filled in the Investec London Cup in June.
Walsh and fellow defender Crista Cullen were out of that tournament with injuries which gave coach Danny Kerry opportunity to experiment with alternative defensive pairings.
Based on what we saw back then at Chiswick, Laura Unsworth looks the most likely to step into a central defensive role with Anne Panter to spend time as one of the wide defenders in Unsworth’s place.
In other injury news Spain’s captain Santi Frexia is out of the men’s hockey Olympic Games tournament with a broken arm suffered in Monday’s 1-1 draw with Pakistan. He returned to the field in the second half after the collision with Pakistan’s Muhammad Irfan late in the first period. But he struggled to play on.
