The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Australia starts favourite

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 25, 2006

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Australia starts favourite

S. Thyagarajan

Kuala Lumpur : Given its track record and triumphs recorded in major competitions since realising the golden dream at the Athens Olympiad in 2004, any calculation that does not make Australia the favourite for Sunday's final of the Azlan Shah hockey tournament will be viewed as flawed.

The Aussies, who were at their vibrant best on Friday, will be venturing out not only for their fifth cup but also a hat-trick.

Even acknowledging that the only predictability in sport is its unpredictability, pointers favour the Aussies against the Dutch. The teams last met at the Champions Trophy final in Chennai, where the Aussies won 3-1. The Dutch had lost the Olympic title to a golden goal.

Dancer plays it down

Known for his humility and being a master of understatements, Barry Dancer, would only predict a rousing final between `very highly rated teams'.

Dancer says the Aussies are in an experimental stage, trying out a few youngsters like Russel Ford and Edwar Ockenden. That perhaps lends a touch of vulnerability as compared to the Dutch whose nucleus remains undisturbed for years.

The Dutch coach, Roelant Oltmans, views the final as a strong challenge for his team, which began training only a week before departure. He fears of a heavy workload on the players, who have played four matches in five days in punishing weather.

Skill versus precision

The final is bound to boil down to the admirably structured Aussie synthesis of speed and skill against the precision, power and positional forays of the Dutch, so well symbolised by the seasoned Teun di Nooijer and Jerome Delmee, combined with the opportunism of Ronald Brouwer.

The Aussies won in the inaugural year in 1983 and also in 1998, 2004, 2005, while the Dutch, in their only appearance in 1996, finished last in the six team event.

A podium finish for India remains in the realm of possibility provided the attack is sharp enough. Though there have been a few bright moments in the tournament, only a bronze here can be viewed as improvement.

Baskaran optimistic

The chief coach, V. Baskaran, is optimistic that his talented bunch has not yet played to its full potential. He is unhappy that the team failed to stretch the Netherlands further than it did in their semifinal.

The results:

Classification matches: 7-8: Argentina 3 (Matias Paredes, Mario Almada, Tomas Argento-golden goal) bt Malaysia 2 (Chua Boon Huat, Muhammad Rahim) HT 1-2; 5-6: Pakistan 4 (Shakeel Abbasi, Muhammad Saqlain, Akhtar Ali, Waqas Sharif) bt Korea 1 (Kang Seong Jung) HT 2-0.

Sunday's matches: 3-4: India v New Zealand (12.30 p.m.); Final: Australia v The Netherlands (5 p.m.).