Malou Pheninckx (born 24 July 1991) is a Dutch women's

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player who currently plays as a midfielder for

Netherlands women's national field hockey team The Netherlands' national women's field hockey team is currently number one on the FIH world rankings and the reigning world champion. The Netherlands is the most successful team in World Cup history, having won the title a record nine times. Th ...

. She also pursued her higher education at the

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...

in the field of medicine. She was a key member of the Dutch team which became glorious at the

2012–13 Women's FIH Hockey World League The 2012–13 Women's FIH Hockey World League was the inaugural edition of the women's field hockey national team league series. The tournament started in August 2012 in Prague, Czech Republic and finished in December 2013 in San Miguel de Tucumá ...

2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League The 2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League was the third edition of the women's field hockey national team league series and last season of the World League. The tournament started in April 2016 in Singapore and finished in November 2017 in Au ...

, 2017 International Festival of Hockey and in the

2018 Women's Hockey World Cup The 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup was the 14th edition of the Women's Hockey World Cup, a field hockey tournament. It was held from 21 July to 5 August 2018 at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in London, England. Defending champions t ...

Career

She received her first call up to the national team in 2012 following the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Pheninckx made her international debut on 4 February 2013 against South Africa alongside fellow player Roos Drost. She played the key role during the Dutch side's maiden triumph in the

defeating

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

5–1 in the Women's Hockey World League final. She also scored 2 goals in the whole tournament. She was axed from the team in 2014 and was overlooked by the team management for the

2014 Women's Hockey World Cup The 2014 Women's Hockey World Cup was the 13th edition of the Women's Hockey World Cup field hockey tournament. It was held from 31 May to 14 June 2014 at the Kyocera Stadion in The Hague, Netherlands. simultaneously with the men's tournament. ...

and

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. Following the 2016 Summer Olympics where the Dutch claimed silver medal, the team management intended to groom youngsters into the team and Malou was surprisingly included in the national team in late 2016. She received a phone call from the head coach

Alyson Annan Alyson Regina Annan (born 12 June 1973) is an Australian field hockey coach and retired field hockey player, who earned a total number of 228 international caps for the Women's National Team, in which she scored 166 goals. Until January 2022, ...

in late 2016 while Malou was attending internships to join the hospitals after completing her medicine studies. She made a comeback return to the national side after a gap of nearly three years in 2017 and was also the member of the Netherlands side which managed to defend the

Hockey World League The Men's FIH Hockey World League was an international field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation. The league also served as a qualifier for the 2014 and 2018 Men's Hockey World Cups and the 2016 Olympic Games. Th ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

after defeating

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

3–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Malou Pheninckx played a key role for the Netherlands women's team which claimed victorious over

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

5–0 in the 2017 International Festival of Hockey tournament, which was their first

International Festival of Hockey The International Festival of Hockey is a men's and women's invitational, international field hockey tournament hosted annually by Hockey Australia. The tournament is held in the Victorian cities of Bendigo and Melbourne. Format Founded in 2016 ...

tournament title victory. She also scored a winning goal in the final against Japan. She too was also the part of the Dutch team which secured its 8th World Cup title after emerging victorious at the

beating

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

to record an emphatic 6–0 victory in the final. She also scored a winning goal in the final. During the

2021 Women's EuroHockey Nations Championship The 2021 Women's EuroHockey Championship was the 15th edition of the Women's EuroHockey Championship, the biennial international women's field hockey championship of Europe organised by the European Hockey Federation. The tournament was held along ...

, she made her 100th international appearance for the Netherlands in the final against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

where Dutch emerged as champions with 2-0 victory. She was included in the Dutch squad to compete in the women's field hockey tournament at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

and also marked her debut appearance at the Olympics.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pheninckx, Malou 1991 births Living people Dutch female field hockey players Female field hockey midfielders SV Kampong players People from Oosterhout Sportspeople from North Brabant Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni Field hockey players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey players for the Netherlands Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in field hockey 21st-century Dutch women