Wales seeking upsets at Hockey World Cup

Forward Jonny Fleck says Wales will be going to the Hockey World Cup to "take some scalps" and "not make up the numbers".

Wales have been drawn in Pool D alongside England, India and Pakistan in August's tournament in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The team sealed their spot at the World Cup with a tense 2-1 win over Poland in the third place play-off in Chile earlier this month.

Despite being the lowest ranked side in the tournament at 16th in the world, Fleck says the team are embracing the challenge.

"We're not just happy with qualifying," he said. "It's an amazing opportunity but we want to go there and to try and get some upsets on the board.

"We've achieved the minimum we wanted to do so far and now it's a chance to go to the World Cup and show what we've really got against the best teams in the world."

Wales will play their opening fixture against India on Saturday, 15 August (12:00 BST), before facing Pakistan two days later on Monday, 17 August (11:30 BST).

They will face off in an all-British clash with England on Wednesday, 19 August (11:30 BST) to conclude the pool fixtures.

Fleck says it is a "tasty draw" and it will be "class" to play England.

"We've played them a lot of times," he told BBC Sport Wales.

"They've obviously got the better of us a lot of times but there's a bit of edge on that game and everyone is happy to play that.

"India and Pakistan, how many times do you get to play teams like that? It's exciting."

In terms of world rankings, the draw was the best Wales could have hoped for with England ranked fourth, India eighth and Pakistan 12th.

Wales' pool fixtures will all take place in Amsterdam, Netherlands at the Wagener Stadium, which has a 15,000 capacity.

The conditions and environment will be familiar to some of the players in the squad.

Co-captain Jacob Draper plays for Pinoke Hockey Club and Fred Newbold for Hurley Hockey Club in the Netherlands.

Wales faced plenty of adversity in their qualifying campaign.

After a 2-2 draw with Chile in their pool, they suffered a 5-0 defeat to France which left their qualification hopes hanging by a thread.

The team bounced back to hammer Scotland 5-0, in a game in which they needed to win by three goals to progress.

Fleck says it was never in doubt.

"From minute one of the game, the start of the warm ups, there was something you felt that we were going to win the game by the amount of goals we needed," said Fleck.

"It never felt like Scotland were in it and no disrespect to them at all, I know they gave everything they could.

"I just think sometimes you win a mental battle and teams just crumble and that's what happened."

Wales were then beaten 4-0 by Ireland but responded two days later to beat Poland and seal their place at the World Cup.

"It was pure emotion [at full-time]," added Fleck.

"It was an up and down journey throughout the tournament and just an emotional release from everyone and pure celebrations.

"We believed the whole time that we were going to do it.

"It's testament to the leaders in the squad and the general character we have throughout that we're able to have honest discussions with each other.

"We had player meetings after each of those losses, not to pin blame but to discuss what happened and how we'll move forward.

"Everyone gets a voice and we're all on the same page to go again the next day and clearly it makes a big difference."

Fleck also praised the cohesion and the joy at playing with his "best mates".

"There is an older group of lads like Dan Kyriakides, Ben Francis and Dale Hutchinson who've played together since they were 13 and then there are other pockets of us younger boys who've all played together since we were 13," said Fleck.

"Those two groups are starting to meld into one big pot, it's a pretty special place to be around."

Men's World Cup draw

Pool A - Netherlands, Argentina, New Zealand, Japan

Pool B - Belgium, Germany, France, Malaysia

Pool C - Australia, Spain, Ireland, South Africa

Pool D - England, India, Pakistan, Wales

Women's World Cup draw

Pool A - Netherlands, Australia, Chile, Japan

Pool B - Argentina, Germany, USA, Scotland

Pool C - Belgium, Spain, New Zealand, Ireland

Pool D - China, England, India, South Africa

The team's successes are made all the more remarkable by their efforts to contribute to the majority of their costs such as food, travel and hotel expenses.

A lot of the players juggle full-time work and remote working around playing and training.

"It's really difficult when you're going up against full time programmes and sometimes it's a hard pill to swallow when we have to pay to go.

"But we want to go to a World Cup and compete against the best people and if we have to pay to do that, we're going to do that."

Fleck says it would mean everything to represent Wales at the tournament, but refused to say his place in the squad was a foregone conclusion.

"It's what I've dreamed of as a kid and what I've worked towards as an adult," added Fleck.

"Without counting anything before it happens, it will mean a hell of a lot."

And after qualifying for only the second time in the country's history, it is safe to say the team celebrated in strong fashion.

"All I'll say is it was extremely fun, it was a great time, and everyone has fully recovered!"