Sports India

KUALA LUMPUR: Reigning Olympic champions Australia set up a final showdown tomorrow with Holland in the 15th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup with a slim win over India yesterday.

The Dutch had to slog for their 1-0 win while defending champions Australia whipped New Zealand 7-1 in the semi-finals at the National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Tomorrow’s final will be a repeat of their final encounter in the 2005 Champions Trophy in Chennai in December. Then, the Aussies won 3-1.

Going by yesterday’s performance, Australia will start as favourites to win their third consecutive title.

New Zealand, the only unbeaten team before yesterday’s semi-final, was a pale shadow of the form they had showed earlier.

Given their lacklustre display, it was no surprise to see the Aussies take a 3-0 lead by the 22nd minute. Grant Schubert started the scoring in the seventh minute followed by Luke Doerner’s goals in the 21st and 22nd minutes.

Mat Naylor made it 4-0 for the Aussies just two minutes into the second half with a field goal.

Schubert, Travis Brooks and Dean Butler were on target in the 49th, 56th and 60th minutes respectively to make it 6-0 before the Kiwis reduced the deficit in the 69th minute through a penalty corner goal by Richard Petherick.

New Zealand team manager Peter Miskimmin said the absence of their skipper Ryan Archibald affected their midfield drastically.

“It is always difficult to play when your world class players is injured. We also had another player (Brad Shaw) out due to flu. So there was a bit of reshuffle which affected us badly. Australia played well and were much better than us. We have learned a lot from this outing,” said Miskimmin.

The Holland-India match saw both sides exercising caution with play confined to midfield.

India had more goal scoring opportunities but Gagan Ajit Singh, Tushar Khandhar, Shivender Singh and Rajpal Singh muffed their finishings.

India had only one penalty corner while Holland had two and they converted the second in the 64th minute when Roderick Weusthof flicked directly into goal.

The Dutch coach Roelant Altmans was happy with the win and was especially elated at having scored their first penalty corner in the tournament.

“That goal was our first from a penalty corner. We had to be defensive in our approach as the Indians were playing well in the tournament.

“We were wary of playing an open game.

“We are now looking to the final against Australia which we hope to win to cap a fine run in this tournament,” said Altmans.

KUALA LUMPUR: Reigning Olympic champions Australia set up a final showdown tomorrow with Holland in the 15th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup with a slim win over India yesterday.

The Dutch had to slog for their 1-0 win while defending champions Australia whipped New Zealand 7-1 in the semi-finals at the National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Tomorrow’s final will be a repeat of their final encounter in the 2005 Champions Trophy in Chennai in December. Then, the Aussies won 3-1.

Going by yesterday’s performance, Australia will start as favourites to win their third consecutive title.

New Zealand, the only unbeaten team before yesterday’s semi-final, was a pale shadow of the form they had showed earlier.

Given their lacklustre display, it was no surprise to see the Aussies take a 3-0 lead by the 22nd minute. Grant Schubert started the scoring in the seventh minute followed by Luke Doerner’s goals in the 21st and 22nd minutes.

Mat Naylor made it 4-0 for the Aussies just two minutes into the second half with a field goal.

Schubert, Travis Brooks and Dean Butler were on target in the 49th, 56th and 60th minutes respectively to make it 6-0 before the Kiwis reduced the deficit in the 69th minute through a penalty corner goal by Richard Petherick.

New Zealand team manager Peter Miskimmin said the absence of their skipper Ryan Archibald affected their midfield drastically.

“It is always difficult to play when your world class players is injured. We also had another player (Brad Shaw) out due to flu. So there was a bit of reshuffle which affected us badly. Australia played well and were much better than us. We have learned a lot from this outing,” said Miskimmin.

The Holland-India match saw both sides exercising caution with play confined to midfield.

India had more goal scoring opportunities but Gagan Ajit Singh, Tushar Khandhar, Shivender Singh and Rajpal Singh muffed their finishings.

India had only one penalty corner while Holland had two and they converted the second in the 64th minute when Roderick Weusthof flicked directly into goal.

The Dutch coach Roelant Altmans was happy with the win and was especially elated at having scored their first penalty corner in the tournament.

“That goal was our first from a penalty corner. We had to be defensive in our approach as the Indians were playing well in the tournament.

“We were wary of playing an open game.

“We are now looking to the final against Australia which we hope to win to cap a fine run in this tournament,” said Altmans.

KUALA LUMPUR: Reigning Olympic champions Australia set up a final showdown tomorrow with Holland in the 15th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup with a slim win over India yesterday.

The Dutch had to slog for their 1-0 win while defending champions Australia whipped New Zealand 7-1 in the semi-finals at the National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Tomorrow’s final will be a repeat of their final encounter in the 2005 Champions Trophy in Chennai in December. Then, the Aussies won 3-1.

Going by yesterday’s performance, Australia will start as favourites to win their third consecutive title.

New Zealand, the only unbeaten team before yesterday’s semi-final, was a pale shadow of the form they had showed earlier.

Given their lacklustre display, it was no surprise to see the Aussies take a 3-0 lead by the 22nd minute. Grant Schubert started the scoring in the seventh minute followed by Luke Doerner’s goals in the 21st and 22nd minutes.

Mat Naylor made it 4-0 for the Aussies just two minutes into the second half with a field goal.

Schubert, Travis Brooks and Dean Butler were on target in the 49th, 56th and 60th minutes respectively to make it 6-0 before the Kiwis reduced the deficit in the 69th minute through a penalty corner goal by Richard Petherick.

New Zealand team manager Peter Miskimmin said the absence of their skipper Ryan Archibald affected their midfield drastically.

“It is always difficult to play when your world class players is injured. We also had another player (Brad Shaw) out due to flu. So there was a bit of reshuffle which affected us badly. Australia played well and were much better than us. We have learned a lot from this outing,” said Miskimmin.

The Holland-India match saw both sides exercising caution with play confined to midfield.

India had more goal scoring opportunities but Gagan Ajit Singh, Tushar Khandhar, Shivender Singh and Rajpal Singh muffed their finishings.

India had only one penalty corner while Holland had two and they converted the second in the 64th minute when Roderick Weusthof flicked directly into goal.

The Dutch coach Roelant Altmans was happy with the win and was especially elated at having scored their first penalty corner in the tournament.

“That goal was our first from a penalty corner. We had to be defensive in our approach as the Indians were playing well in the tournament.

“We were wary of playing an open game.

“We are now looking to the final against Australia which we hope to win to cap a fine run in this tournament,” said Altmans.