Ireland’s coach Dave Passmore dreadful injury luck has continued with key defender Tim Lewis sustaining a hand injury in training that rules him out the Eurohockey Nations Championship in Manchester in two weeks time.

Lewis fractured his knuckle during short corner training yesterday and underwent surgery this morning. He joins the growing list of injured defenders that creates selection challenges for Head Coach Dave Passmore in the run in to the Championships.

“After losing Jason Black for personal reasons last week this is a big blow to our back line,” lamented Passmore today. “Tim had made good progress this year and would have played an important role in Manchester and was key at both attacking and defensive corners.”

The injury is a hard blow for the talented young Pembroke Wanderers man, who was poised to play in his first ever major world-ranking tournament.

“We wish him well and look forward to his return in the preparation for Beijing,” continued Passmore.

Passmore will now study his options before deciding on remedial selection action, particularly with a number of other defenders recovering from various injuries.

“I will not rush into making a decision into replacing Tim as I want to consider my options and gain a full view of our other injured players who do seem to be making progress,” he said.

Meanwhile, Phelie Maguire’s dislocated finger injury is being monitored and, at this stage, he remains selected in the eighteen to travel to Manchester.

Source: Irish Hockey Association