Australia send China crashing

UTRECHT, May 22: Holders Australia and Germany expectedly won their second round of league matches in Pool B which virtually put them beyond...

UTRECHT, May 22: Holders Australia and Germany expectedly won their second round of league matches in Pool B which virtually put them beyond the reach of the rest while putting them firmly on the path to the semi-finals in the women8217;s World Cup hockey tournament, here on Friday.

While Germany had a torrid time against South Africa before coming through 4-3, the Aussies gave yet another solid performance in putting to rout China 7-1.

The Australians were far too superior a team for China, whose showing thus far, has been a big disappointment considering the individual talent in the side. Even more surprising is the benching of the star Chinese forward Jiuyan Wang who was the leading scorer in last September8217;s junior World Cup in Korea.

By all indications, the Australia have looked the best among the lot and they struck at regular intervals to demolish China. The Australian goals came from Julie Towers 16th, 23rd and 70th minutes, Alyson Annan 5th and 56th, Bianca Langham 25th and ClaireMitchell-Taverner 50th.

To China8217;s credit, they kept fighting right till the end and their efforts were rewarded when Chunling Tang dived to put home a pass from Juan Li in what was easily the best move of the match.

Germany struggle: Earlier, Germany, stretched to breakpoint, kept their nerve to beat South Africa. Natascha Keller emerged the German heroine with two goals 8th and 41st while Nadine Ernsting-Krienke 5th and Heike Latzsch 32nd scored one apiece.

The South Africans, down 0-2, put up a brave fight, but their best was not enough on the day though goals by Sharon Cormack 12th, Pietie Coetzee 30th and Alison Dare 33rd kept them in the hunt until the end.

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First win for US: In Pool A, the United States picked up full points by defeating Scotland 2-1. The result was of little consequence since neither team entertained any hopes of progressing the knock-out round. Tracey Robb 2nd and Sue MacDonald 41st scored for US while the Scots pulled one back in the 56th through TraceyFuchs.

Korean fightback: On Thursday night, Korea staged a remarkable turnaround as they came back from a 0-4 position to post a 5-4 win against New Zealand in pool B for their first success in two outings.

The Kiwis jumped to a big lead as Mandy Smith 1st, Suzie Pearce 9th, Anna Lawrence 16th and Robyn Mathews 39th scored. From this seemingly hopeless situation, the Koreans came surging back with goals by Mi Soon Choi 54th, Myung Ok Kim 56th, Eun Jin Kim 62nd, Soo Jung Kim 63rd and Eun Young Lee 69th, for a truly stunning recovery.

Other results

Men Pool A

Germany bt New Zealand 3-0.

Saturday8217;s fixtures Women 8211; IST: New Zealand vs India 2.35 p.m., England vs Argentina 3.35 p.m.; The Netherlands vs Korea 7.35 p.m..