International Festival of Hockey 2017 in Australia

[giri26]

The best international hockey in Australia will be landing on Victoria’s doorstep again this November in Melbourne and Bendigo.

This world-class tournament will see the nations of Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Japan, Pakistan and the United States of America battle it out across a week-long competition.

Watch our Kookaburras and Hockeyroos compete with some of the best international teams in the world, including the number one ranked women's team from Netherlands.

http://www.hockey.org.au

 

[giri26]

Pakistan face Australia in Melbourne today

Pakistan will play their first match of the International Festival of Hockey against hosts Australia at the State Netball Hockey Centre in Melbourne on Wednesday.

The four-nation tournament also features New Zealand and Japan.

After the single league matches, the top two teams will play the final while the bottom two will feature in the third position playoff.

Australia, the reigning world champions who are No.2 in the FIH rankings, are favourites to win the title in Melbourne. New Zealand, ranked eighth, are expected to offer the toughest competition in the event.

After facing Australia on Wednesday, Pakistan play against New Zealand on Nov 9 and then against Japan on Nov 11.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1369047/pakistan-face-australia-in-melbourne-today

 

[Abdullah719]

Pakistan suffer their worst-ever defeat in hockey

Pakistan lost their opening match of the International Festival of Hockey against hosts Australia by a whopping eight goals in a 9-1 defeat at the State Netball and Hockey Centre in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Blake Govers scored a hat-trick, while Melbourne boy Aaron Kleinschmidt hit a double in the comprehensive win over Pakistan, who scored their lone goal via an Abu Mahmood strike in the 32nd minute.

Pakistan now face Japan on Thursday before facing New Zealand on Friday. The result sets up Australia for Sunday’s gold medal match ahead of Thursday’s meeting with New Zealand and the final group game against Japan on Saturday.
Pakistan skipper Muhammad Irfan expressed his dissatisfaction over the team’s performance. “We should have played better than this; we did in the Asia Cup but we were comprehensively defeated here,” Irfan told The Express Tribune. “We shouldn’t have conceded so many goals. We tried hard but not hard enough; we really need to get better in the upcoming matches. Japan are an easy team but we cannot take them lightly and not miss chances.”

Pakistan had the first opening of the game but Qadir Muhammad Arslan could only push his deflection wide.

Australia responded with two goals before the end of the first quarter, with Jeremy Hayward scoring from a penalty corner in the eighth minute.

Jake Whetton then doubled the Kookaburras’ lead four minutes later with a fine angled effort.

Australia keeper Tristan Clemons denied Mahmood from a penalty corner early in the second quarter, before Kleinschmidt made it 3-0 with a tidy finish on the turn.

Kleinschmidt, Tom Wickham and Matt Dawson were all denied before half time as Australia piled on the pressure, but Pakistan pulled a goal back shortly after the break when Mahmood scored from a penalty corner.

At 3-1, Pakistan may have been fancying their chances but Australia responded immediately through Kleinschmidt, before Govers made it 5-1 with a goal from a penalty corner in the 43rd minute.

Arunasalam added the sixth after some good lead-up play by Kleinschmidt, with Govers grabbing two final quarter goals to complete his hat-trick. There was enough time left though for Wickham to also get on the scoresheet.

This is also Pakistan’s worst-ever defeat in hockey, eclipsing their previous 9-2 drubbing at the hands of Holland.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1553077/7-australia-score-nine-pakistan/

 

[Abdullah719]

International Festival of Hockey: Japan inflict 3-1 defeat on Pakistan

Pakistan faced a 3-1 defeat against Japan on Thursday, just one day after their worst-ever 9-1 defeat at the hands of World Champions Australia in the International Festival of Hockey at State Netball and Hockey Centre in Melbourne.

Japan opened the scoring with a field goal courtesy Kenta Tanaka in the 14th minute. Pakistan were unable to answer with a goal, as Japan were able to maintain the lead till the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Tanaka once again found the net in the 46th minute to double his team’s lead. Genki Mitani then delivered the killer blow with a goal in the 50th minute to push Japan 3-0 up.

Pakistan were able to salvage some respect when Mohammad Atiq scored for them in the last minute of the match as the match ended 3-1, with Greenshirts reeling at the bottom of the league table with two consecutive defeats in their first two matches.

“This is not good,” captain Mohammad Irfan told The Express Tribune. “We lost to a team that is ranked lower than us. We need to work a lot on some aspects of our game to turn things around.”

He continued by saying that the team needs to buckle up. “This performance is not satisfactory and we need to buckle up for the next match. We will try to put up a better performance in the next match, but we don’t have much time to gather ourselves since we are playing back-to-back matches.”

Pakistan now play New Zealand on Friday in their last league match of the tournament.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/155389...val-hockey-japan-inflict-3-1-defeat-pakistan/

 

[Abdullah719]

Pakistan complete hat-trick of defeats in four-nation hockey tournament

MELBOURNE (Dunya News) – Pakistan have on Saturday completed hat-trick of defeats in the four-nation hockey tournament as New Zealand defeated the Green Shirts in their final group match.

The Kiwis emerged victorious by 3-2 in the match that was played in Melbourne. Pakistan have so far conceded 15 goals in the three matches that they have played in the championship.

Pakistan were earlier thrashed 1-9 by Australia in the first match, and the defeat was their worst ever in international hockey. The Green Shirts were then brushed aside 1-3 by Japan in the second game.

http://dunyanews.tv/en/Sports/41395...k-of-defeats-in-four-nation-hockey-tournament