Starting Friday, the Hong Kong, China Lacrosse Association will host a Super Sixes competition with seven teams in the women’s event and six teams in the men’s event.
The HKLA is hosting the event for the first time with Wong Chuk Hang Artificial Football Pitch serving as the venue. The competition bookends a banner year for international sixes play that was highlighted by with three EuroLax Sixes Cups (Portugal, Belgium, Greece), the Pan-American Lacrosse Association Sixes Cup in Jamaica, and another Super Sixes in Canada.
The men’s competition will feature China, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and the Philippines, in addition to the host nation. The women’s competition will feature two teams from Hong Kong, China, as well as China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain and the Philippines.
Both tournaments are split into two groups, and teams will compete in pool play on December 29 and 30 before semifinals and medal games on December 31.
The first two days of the tournament will be streamed on YouTube, and day three will be broadcast locally in Cantonese and on Lacrosse TV in English. Standings, schedule and rosters for all teams can be found here.
The participating teams will showcase some of the best talent from both PALA and the European Lacrosse Federation in the fast-paced sixes format with numerous players having World Lacrosse championship experience.
Hong Kong and the Philippines are both fielding strong men’s and women’s teams with players from world championships in the past two years. Both countries finished in the top half of the final rankings of the men’s championship earlier this year. The Chinese women’s team also features players from the team that competed at the 2022 Women’s Championship.
Great Britain is leading a trio of European teams with men’s and women’s rosters that both feature players with sixes experience at The World Games 2022, highlighted by Lyndon Bunio and Hal Dwobeng on the men’s team and Chess Gray and Emilie Chandler on the women’s team. Great Britain is currently ranked fourth in the world in both men’s and women’s sixes.
The Japan squad also features players who competed at The World Games, where the team captured a bronze medal, in Dai Sato, Kinori Sugihara, and Soya Tokimasu.
The German men’s team also features players with experience at The World Games, like Mikahail Zinoviev and Lukas Kins as does the Czech women’s team, led by Marketa Malinovska and Anna Lottmann.
The German women’s team, as well as the Czech women’s and German men’s team, contains multiple players with world championship experience from the past two years.
