The average age of the players participating in this Olympic Qualifier in Santiago de Chile is 24.5 years old. The youngest team is India (23), followed closely by Mexico (also 23), while the two oldest teams are Chile (26 years old) and Great Britain (25).
Russian Igor DOBIJINE is the oldest player at 35, with Austrian Robert BUCHTA only 27 days younger than him.
Indian Diwakar RAM is the youngest player at 18 (born on December 18, 1989). Altogether, there are 12 teenagers in the competition (3 for AUT, 1 for CHI, 3 for IND, 4 for MEX, 1 for RUS).
The average number of International Caps is 67 (official numbers have not been provided for the Russian squad). The team with the less international experience is Mexico (with an average of 25 international Caps), while the most experienced team is India (with an average of 88 International Caps), followed closely by Great Britain (85).
The most capped player in the competition is Indian Dilip TIRKEY, with 363 international appearances! He made his debut in the National Team back in 1995 and has already participated in 3 Olympic Games (1996 in Atlanta, 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens).
There are only 5 other players with more than 150 International Caps: Robert BUCHTA, AUT, 157; Peter PROKSCH, AUT, 154; Barry MIDDLETON, GBR, 153; Ignace TIRKEY, IND, 196; Prabhjot SINGH, IND, 172.
At the other end of the experience spectrum, there are 4 players making their international debut in this competition, all in the Mexican squad.
It is certainly unusual to have a team both the youngest and the most experienced (in average number of International Caps). In the case of India, the explanation comes from the very high number of international appearances of their senior players
7 players in the tournament have played in Olympic Games before: 3 in the British squad (Ben HAWES, Barry MIDDLETON and Rob MOORE) and 4 in the Indian squad (Dilip TIRKEY, Ignace TIRKEY, Prabhjot SINGH and William XALCO). Dilip TIRKEY is the only one to have competed in more than one Olympic competition (1996, 2000 and 2004).
Jason LEE, coach of the British team, should be added to this list of Olympians: he played in two Olympic Games (1992 in Barcelona and 1996 in Atlanta).
There are 6 pairs of brothers in the tournament (Thomas and Tobias HÜBNER, AUT; Christian and Michael MINAR, AUT; Armin and Elmar STREMITZER, AUT; Richard and Simon MANTELL, GBR; Ignace and Prabodh TIRKEY, IND; Daniel and Francisco AGUILAR MONTOYA, MEX); of the 3 pairs of brothers in the Austrian team, 2 are twins (HÜBNER and STREMITZER).
4 players will celebrate a birthday during the tournament (Georg JELINEK, AUT, on March 1; SanYusen ZULETA SANDOVAL, MEX, on March 5; Mauro SCAFF, CHI, and Alexander LYKOV, RUS, on March 8).
8 players in the Russian squad are called either Alexander or Alexey (10 with the Assistant Coach and Team Doctor). Go Alex, go!
