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The pre-tournament favourites made winning starts on the opening day of the Sahara Hockey Champions Trophy in Chennai.
With Chennai spared the force of Cyclone Fanoos after the storm lost intensity overnight and skirted the fringes of the city, Australia, Spain and the Netherlands all got their campaigns moving in the right direction with a trio of important wins.
Australia and Netherlands recorded identical results, surging to two-goal half time leads before ending the match on the victorious end of 4-1 scorelines. Spain’s victory was a more difficult assignment, having to overcome a home team intent on getting the event off to a blazing start.
The tournament began in hot, humid and still conditions to test the condition of the players.
The forecasted wind and rain held off for much of the day, but Australia began like a whirlwind, stretching the German defence in the opening 40 minutes to assume control of the match.
The Olympic champions were positive and strong throughout the first half, with assured ball movement giving Germany little opportunity to change the tempo of the match and wrest control from the Australians.
Spain and India were forced to deal with the day’s toughest conditions after the heavens opened during their warm-up which waterlogged the pitch for the first quarter of the match. It wasn’t enough to extinguish the enthusiasm of the home team however, who challenged the defending champions at every opportunity.
The heavy conditions affected both teams, but Spain handled it better to take the lead in first half. Maximum points were only secured after a second half penalty stroke was awarded following a strong run into the circle by Santi Freixa.
In the late match, the Netherlands toyed with the Pakistan defence in the opening half with two free-flowing goals establishing their dominance before they added another after half time to extend the lead to three..
Pakistan mounted a second half resurgence, but after finding the net to reduce the deficit to two goals, they squandered a good chance soon after before conceding at the other end to provide a comfortable, and match-winning, buffer to the Dutch.
Tomorrow’s matches are headlined by Australia’s clash against Spain and the continuation of India’s rivalry with Pakistan. The Netherlands face Germany in the late match, with Germany needing a positive result to kick start their Champions Trophy run.
