Indian Express: South Africa and New Zealand to face off in 9th-10th place play off

New Zealand and South Africa will face off each other for the 9th-10th place finish on Saturday.

South Africa defeated Austria 4-2, while New Zealand prevailed over Malaysia 3-1 to set up a clash against each other for the 9th-10th place at the ongoing men’s Junior Hockey World Cup, here today.

In the first 9th to 12th place classification game, it was Austria who took the lead through Franz Lindengrun (13th minute) before South Africa scored two goals through Matthew De Sousa (21st) and Courtney Halle (32nd) to go into the breather with an one-goal advantage.

After the change of ends, South Africa extended their lead when Ryan Crowe (56th) scored from a field effort before Austria pulled one back through a penalty corner conversion by Leon Thornblom (60th).

Just two minutes from the final hooter, Nqobile Ntuli scored a field goal to make it 4-2 in favour of South Africa.
In the second 9th to 12th place play-off match later in the day, New Zealand took the lead through a penalty corner conversion by Oliver Logan in the sixth minute before Malaysia drew parity when Firdaus Omar (28th) struck from a set piece.

But thereafter it was New Zealand all over as they pumped in two more goals in the second half through Robbie Capizzi (56th) and Same Lane (60th) to emerge winners.

Meanwhile in the opening 13th to 16th place classification match, Japan rode on Koji Yamasaki’s field strike to down their opponents by 1-0 margin.

Later in the day, Korea defeated Canada 2-1 in another 13th to 16th place play-off game.

All the goals came in the first half with Korea finding the net twice through Joohan Park (21st minute) and Seyong Oh (26th) before Canada reduced the margin two minutes later through skipper Brandon Pereira’s (28th) penalty corner conversion.

While New Zealand and South Africa will face off each other for the 9th-10th place finish on Saturday, Austria will take on Malaysia for 11th-12th place.

Japan and Korea will face each other in a battle of Asian teams for the 13th-14th spot, while Egypt and Canada will fight it out to avoid the wooden-spoon in the 16-nation tournament.