Bangalore, Jul 3: Big names Taeke Taekema and Jeroen Hertzberger were excluded from the Netherland's men's team for the London Olympics. Speculation was on about the fate of these star players and the final announcement finally settled it all. Thirty-two-year-old Taekema is a veteran of 239 games and was the highest scorer at the 2010 World Cup Hockey held in New Delhi. He was also a part of the Dutch hockey team that had won silver at the 2004 Athens Games.

Hertzberger, 26, on the other hand, has been a regular member of the Dutch squad for every major international event since 2007. He even had said during an interview last week that he was hopeful of making it to the final squad. Taekema was more uncertain after he was dropped from the team earlier this year. Other casualties were Quirijn Caspers and Seve van Ass, who is the son of head coach Paul van Ass. Veteran Teun de Nooijer, who was part of the Dutch team that had won the 1996 and 2000 Games tournament, however, made a comeback after a long injury. He played a test match against Great Britain last week after almost eight weeks.

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