The prodigious midfielder played for The Netherlands at just 17 years 111 days making him the second youngest Dutch international debutant.

Now 31, Kemperman is a key player in a Dutch bid to win their third Olympic gold medal and break a 21-year-old major title drought.

Kemperman’s slick stick skills and ball control are matched by ruthless finishing, both with the forehand and backhand. He has a penchant for the latter and is often referred to Mr. Backhander in Dutch hockey circles.

Kemperman has collected 220 international caps and has scored more than 50 goals for his country.

Born in Nijmegen, he picked up the stick at five years of age and played for his club Union and Den Bosch in his youth before making the grade for the premiership side HC’s Hertogenbosch when just 15 years old.

He later joined Rot-Weiss Koln in Germany before turning out for Kampong at home, a club with which he enjoyed major success.

In 2016 he was part of the EHL-winning Kampong side and continued assisting the club in their Dutch premiership title-winning campaigns in 2017 and 2018.

Kemperman has also played in the Malaysian league in UniKL colours and had a stint for Dabang Mumbai in the Hockey India League.

Kemperman belongs to a generation of Dutch national players who have had to make do with silver medals at the World Cup (2014) and Olympics (2012) and must be desperate to bite gold at Tokyo 2020.

He has had top podium finishes, however, at the prestigious EuroHockey Championship on three occasions – London 2015 and Amstelveen (2017 and 2021).

In 2013, he was voted best player at the event in Boom, Belgium, and followed that up with a similar accolade at the now-defunct Hockey World League which The Netherlands won the following year.