T&T's men's hockey team was edged out 5-4 to Russia on Tuesday in their final warm-up match before their World Cup opener against the Czech Repubic on Wednesday in Berlin.

The defeat will not, or at least should not, affect the morale in the T&T camp, because this Russia team is ranked number four in the world.

The local boys gave one of the World Cup favourites a run for its money with goals from Akim Toussaint, Jordan Vieira, Mickell Pierre, and Shaquille Daniel.

T&T will flick off its World Cup campaign against the Czechs from 7:45am (TT time) on Wednesday and then return to the court at 2:30pm (TT time) for its second match against Poland.