London (11 June, 2016): India’s demolition machinery continued to march in the Hero Hockey Champions Trophy by defeating Great Britain 2-1 while fellow Asian giants Korea stumbled 2-4 against Australia at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Saturday.
For the second consecutive day, Coach Roelant Oltmans’ men in blue gave a par excellence performance against two of the top ranked teams in the world – Germany and Great Britain. The Indians pounded World No 3 Germany who endured agonising moments before escaping with a 3-3 draw on Friday, and against Britain, had the match under control with 27 circle penetrations against Britain’s 15.
However, it was goalkeeper P. Sreejesh who played a pivotal role once again in denying the Britons, who held Australia to a scoreless draw on Friday, of any opportunities in equalising towards the closing stages of the match after their strikers continuously, broke into scoring zones but could not find the mark.
Former Asian Games gold medallist Korea, who qualified for the Hero Hockey Champions Trophy by virtue of winning the 2014 Champions Challenge 1, produced another classy performance against the Kookaburras but cracks in their own defence during crucial moments gave the Australians a last-gasp effort to win full points.
Ranked World No 9, the Koreans had on Friday surprised the FIH World Rankings with a 2-0 win over Belgium, thanks largely to goals from Yang Jihun and Jung Manjae.
Mandeep Singh’s poaching antics kept India in the forefront as he scores his second goal of the tournament in the 17th minute with goalkeeper George Pinner out of sight. SV Sunil orchestrated a great breakaway on the flank and drove himself into the circle, sent the ball across the goalmouth and Mandeep picked it up by tapping into goal.
The prolific Harmanpreet Singh than converted a penalty stroke four minute into the third quarter to extend India’s lead 2-0 but Great Britain pulled one back as Ashley Jackson strikes through from a penalty corner a minute later.
Australia share four-equal points with India but lead the chart on a better goal average while the Koreans moved into third position on three points followed by Germany (2), Great Britain (1) and Belgium (1 point).
Germany stuttered once again in their defence of the Hero Hockey Champions Trophy following a come-from-behind 4-4 draw against World No 5 Belgium on Saturday and in the process may have just landed themselves into rough terrains in the chase for their 11thChampions Trophy.
It was the second time in two days the defending champions and reigning Olympic champions struggled to build on their momentum after going through the same motion against India in Friday’s opening match. The Indian led 3-1 before Germany clawed back for a 3-3 draw in a nerve-wrecking thrilling encounter.
Tobias Hauke gave the Germans an opening lead three minutes into the game but the Belgians equalised through Sebastien Dockier’s field goal (17th) before Germany got back in the groove to lead 2-1 via Marco Miltkau’s 24th minute penalty corner goal. Belgium, however, hit back with three consecutive goals within a space of 11 minutes to go 4-2 up – Arthur van Doren (30th), Alexandre de Paeuw (39th) and Florent van Aubel (41st) field goals.
Just as a poor start to their campaign on Friday, the Germans rallied back from a two-goal deficit and threw everything into the game to avoid another embarrassing situation. Miltkau closed the gap to make it 3-4 from a field goal and Olivier Korn stepped up in similar fashion to draw level 4-4 as the defending once again came out of the pits from another nail-biting experience.
Korean veteran Seo Jongho, who made his Champions Trophy debut way back in 1999 and returned to international duty after an absence of three years, led the Korean challenge against the powerful Australians.
Blake Govers shot Australia into the lead with a 27th minute penalty corner goal and Eddie Ockenden seized the opportunity from a field goal to make it 2-0 before Korea knocked two goals through Kim Juhun (38th) and Lee Jungjun (45th) to level at 2-2. Late field goals from Trent Mitton (51st) and Glen Turner (60th), however, saw the Australians through for their first victory in the tournament.
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