The Hindu: Australia tops Pool A

By Uthra Ganesan

England and Australia completed the formalities of qualifying for the quarterfinals of the men’s Junior World Cup hockey tournament here, with convincing victories in their respective league matches here on Tuesday.

Australia continued its unbeaten run in the tournament to finish on top of Pool-A with nine points after a 5-0 whipping of Korea.

In Pool-D, England finished second behind India after defeating Canada 6-0 for its second victory, courtesy a hat-trick from Edward Horler.

Originally meant to be a rest day for all teams, Tuesday saw the two sides complete their league engagements after dense fog throughout the week had forced the organisers to rework the schedule.

It was 0-0 till the 25th minute — the longest Korea has gone without being scored against in the competition so far — when Frazer Gerrard converted a penalty corner to put Australia 1-0 up.

Olympian Blake Govers then added two in two minutes to end Korean hopes by half-time.

Australia will play Pool-B runner-up the Netherlands.

England will now face two-time defending champion and title favourite Germany in the knock-outs while pool-topper India will be up against an impressive Spain, which finished second in Pool-C.

The results: Pool D: England 6 (Edward Horler-3, Will Calnan-2, Christopher Proctor) bt Canada 0; Pool A: Australia 5 (Blake Govers-2, Frazer Gerrard, Max Hendry, Kiran Arunasalam) bt Korea 0.

The schedule: Egypt vs Japan (11.15 a.m.), Austria vs South Africa (1.30 p.m.), Malaysia vs New Zealand (3.45 p.m.), Korea vs Canada (6 p.m.).