The final of the women’s Samsung Hockey Champions Trophy in Canberra on Sunday recorded impressive viewing figures around Australia.

The decider between the home team and the Netherlands peaked with a figure of almost 400,000 people in metropolitan areas.

Peak viewing figures were recorded in the final minutes of the match and throughout the extra time and penalty stroke shoot out, which the Netherlands won at the beginning of the second round.

The broadcast on ABC TV attracted a 19% share of the available television audience, the third highest of Australian television stations in the same timeslot.

The figures in regional areas (including Hobart and the host city) were not taken into consideration in the calculations. This would have increased the number of viewers by up to 30%.

The women’s Champions Trophy is followed by the men’s event in Chennai, India, starting this Saturday. The Sahara Hockey Champions Trophy will run from 10-18 December, with the top six teams competing – Australia, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Pakistan and India.

Before the tournament starts, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) will host a Benefit Match for the victims of the earthquake that devastated parts of Pakistan and India in October.

The match between an India-Pakistan XI and a WorldHockey XI will be played at 18:30 (local time) this Thursday, 8 December, and will be broadcast by Ten Sports in Asia and Eurosport across the European continent.