Approximately 5 million of the 17 million people in the Netherlands are registered to one of the 35,000 sports clubs in the country. About two thirds of the population older than 15 years participates in sports weekly.
Thierry Daniel Henry is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player. He is considered one of the greatest strikers of all time, and one the greatest players of the Premier League history. He has been named Arsenal F.C's greatest ever player. Henry was runner-up for both the Ballon d'Or in 2003 and the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004. He was named the FWA Footballer of the Year a record three times, the PFA Players' Player of the Year a joint-record two times, and was named in the PFA Team of the Year six consecutive times. He was also included in the FIFA FIFPro World XI once and the UEFA Team of the Year five times. In 2004, Henry was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
The Canada men's national ice hockey team is the ice hockey team representing Canada internationally. The team is overseen by Hockey Canada, a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. From 1920 until 1963, Canada's international representation was by senior amateur club teams. Canada's national men's team was founded in 1963 by Father David Bauer as a part of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, playing out of the University of British Columbia. The nickname "Team Canada" was first used for the 1972 Summit Series and has been frequently used to refer to both the Canadian national men's and women's teams ever since.
The Australia women's national field hockey team are, as of January 2019, ranked third in the world. Having played their first game in 1914, and their first Olympic game in 1984, they are one of Australia's most successful sporting teams, boasting three Olympic gold medals, two World Cup gold medals and four Commonwealth Games gold medals. The Hockeyroos have been crowned Australia's Team of the Year five times and were unanimously awarded Best Australian Team at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
Sohail Abbas, is a former professional field hockey player from Pakistan who played as a Full-back. Regarded as one of the greatest players of all time he is the all-time second highest goal scorer in international field hockey and highest goal scorer in modern field hockey with 348 international goals. A drag-flick specialist noted for his lethal flicks with great accuracy and speed in front of goal from penalty corners he is widely regarded as the 'King of the drag flick'.
The Pakistan national field hockey team represents Pakistan in international field hockey. Having played its first match in 1948, it is administered by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), the governing body for hockey in Pakistan. It has been a member of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) since 1948 and was founding member of the Asian Hockey Federation (ASHF), which was formed in 1958. Pakistan is one of the most successful national field hockey teams in the world with a record four Hockey World Cup wins.
Selvaraj Thirumal Valavan is a former field hockey midfielder from India, who made his international debut for the Men's National Team in February 1997 against Poland. Valavan represented his native country at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, where India finished in seventh place. He comes from a hockey family and is the nephew of Former International M.P.Murugesh. His father Selvaraj played for State Bank of India and brother Thirugnam currently plays for Madras Port Trust. Selvaraj Thirumala Valavan currently plays for Indian Bank Team, Tamil Nadu in the position of Centre-Half. For his outstanding contribution to the field of Hockey, he was conferred the award Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Sports Award in the year of 1999–2000. In the national level he has played the tournaments National Championship respectively in December 2000 held at Jammu, March 1999 held at Hyderabad where the team finished at the 2nd position, May 1997 held at Bangalore and finished at 2nd position. He also participated in the year December 2002 – Hyderabad, June 1997 – Bangalore. Selvaraj Thirumala Valavan also took part at the Muruguppa Gold Cup in the year July 1998 – Chennai.
Sport in Belgium plays a prominent role in the society. As of 2010, Belgium counted around 17,000 sport clubs with approximately 1.35 million members, or about 13% of the Belgian population. Popular sports in Belgium are, among others: football, cycling, tennis, table tennis, athletics, swimming, basketball, badminton, judo, hockey, rowing, motocross, auto racing, volleyball, and running. Belgium has organized the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp as well as the 1972 UEFA European Championship and the 2000 UEFA European Championship along with the Netherlands. The Belgium national football team's best result was a 3rd place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and a second place of the 1980 UEFA European Championship. Belgian football clubs have won 3 times the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and twice the UEFA Cup, plus 3 times the UEFA Supercup.
The Belgian national men's field hockey team represents Belgium in international men's field hockey and is controlled by the Royal Belgian Hockey Association, the governing body for field hockey in Belgium.
David Franciscus Johan Bergman is a Dutch baseball player who currently plays for Kinheim of the Honkbal Hoofdklasse baseball league.
Belgium competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. 96 Belgians took part in Beijing, the biggest delegation for the country since 1976. Belgium won 2 gold medals, better achievement than in 2004, when the country won 1 gold and 2 bronze medals.
The Indian women's national field hockey team represents India in international field hockey, and is governed by Hockey India. Nabhvarna are currently ranked 6th in the FIH World Rankings, and are ranked as the best team in Asia. They have won the gold medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and 1982 Asian Games. They have also won the Women's Asia Cup twice, i.e. in 2004 and 2017. They also won the Asian Champions Trophy in 2016.
Mitchell Jay "Mitch" Booth is a sailor from Australia, who represented his native country for the first time at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Booth as helmsman in the Australian Tornado with John Forbes as crew took Bronze. In 1996, Booth made a second appearance this time with crew member Andrew Landenberger the team took the Silver in the Tornado. In 2004, Athens Booth represented the Netherlands as helmsman of the Dutch Tornado. With crew member Herbert Dercksen Booth took 5th place. His final Olympic appearance came during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Qingdao. Now with crew member Pim Nieuwenhuis in the Dutch Tornado, Booth finished 5th.
Moritz Fürste is a German field hockey player. He was a member of the Men's National Team that won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics as well as at the 2006 World Cup. He played at the Uhlenhorster Hockey Club in Hamburg from 1989 till 2012. He was captain of the team. He has guided his team to success in the Euro Hockey League on three occasions, winning the title in 2007–08, 2009–10 and 2011–12. Fürste also helped his team to a second-place finish in the competition in the 2008–09 Season, when they were defeated by HC Bloemendaal of The Netherlands. Since 2012 he is playing at Spanish Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. After retiring after season 2018-2019 he just signed a new deal with Royal Beerschot THC in Belgium for 1 season.
Sardara Singh, sometimes referred as Sardar Singh, is an Indian former professional field hockey player and captain of the Indian national team. He usually plays the center half position. Sardara became the youngest player to captain the Indian team when he led the side at the 2008 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. He was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India, in 2015. On 13 July 2016, the responsibilities of the captain were handed over from him to P. R. Sreejesh, the goalkeeper of Indian Team. On 12 September 2018, Sardara announced his retirement from international hockey. He played 314 matches during 12 years in his career.
Pau Quemada Cadafalch is a Spanish field hockey player who plays a forward for Belgian club Leuven. He played a total of 293 times for the Spanish national team from 2003 until 2021.
Gonzalo Peillat is an Argentine-German field hockey player who plays as a defender for German club Mannheimer HC and for the Germany national team. In 2015, Peillat was awarded the FIH 2014 Rising Star of the Year.
Agustín Alejandro Mazzilli is an Argentine field hockey player who plays as a midfielder or forward for Belgian Hockey League club Braxgata and the Argentine national team.
Eddy Casteels is a Belgian professional basketball coach and former player. He is currently the head coach for the Leuven Bears of the Pro Basketball League. From 2005 till 2018 he was the head coach of the Belgium national basketball team
Alexander Robby Hendrickx is a Belgian field hockey player who plays for Dutch club Pinoké and the Belgian national team as a defender. Playing with the Y1 Hockey LTD X, Hendrickx won 'top goal scorer' at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He also won a gold medal with his team for Belgium.
