SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Three members of the Leicester City Premier League title winning team swapped their football boots for hockey sticks, as they took on Team GB hockey goalkeeper Maddie ‘Mad-dog’ Hinch in the BetStars Hockey Shootout Challenge at the Foxes’ training ground.
Danny Simpson, Marc Albrighton and Christian Fuchs were joined by two members of Team GB’s gold medal winning hockey team, Maddie Hinch and Helen Richardson-Walsh, who gave the trio a beginner’s guide to hockey, before hero keeper Hinch challenged the players to a penalty shootout that put their new-found skills to the test.
Each player was given three attempts to score past Hinch, who rose to national prominence with her star-studded performance at Rio 2016, when she saved all four penalties in the final against the Netherlands. Albrighton succeeded where the Dutch failed, and emerged victorious by scoring with two of his three attempts; Fuchs and Simpson both managed to find the back-board on one occasion.
Speaking about the players’ performance in the challenge, Hinch said: “I think they did well, they focused a bit too much on me at times rather than the ball, which meant there were a few swings and misses. They’ve definitely got plenty to work on, but it was a very good effort and they managed to score a couple of good goals.”
Zeno Ossko, Director of Sportsbook at BetStars, said: “We like a challenge at BetStars, so pitting champions from two sporting worlds against each other is right up our street. After a bit of coaching from Helen, it was surprising to see that the Leicester boys were a lot better at scoring past Maddie than the Dutch were in the Olympics. Congratulations to Marc who came out on top.”
BetStars has carried out several successful marketing campaigns recently, including the animated #GameChangers campaign, with the Miracle of Medinah voted as the favourite Ryder Cup moment.
