Last Update: January 20, 2023, 18:09 IST
Australia beat South Africa 9-2 at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium (FIH)
Blake Govers netted four times while Tom Craig, Jake Harvey, Daniel Beale, Jeremy Hayward and Tim Brand each scored a goal for Australia against South Africa at the Birsa Munda Stadium.
Star forward Blake Gowers scored four times, including a penalty stroke, as title contenders Australia beat South Africa 9-2 to top Pool A and qualify directly for the FIH Men’s quarter-finals. World Cup on Friday.
Australia will take on the winner of the crossover match between Malaysia and Spain in the quarter-final match on January 24 in Bhubaneswar.
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Goals in the 4th, 15th, 19th and 20th minutes saw the Australians lead 7–1 at halftime. His first and fourth strikes were field goals while the second was from a penalty corner and the third from the penalty spot.
Tom Craig (10th), Jake Harvey (22nd), Daniel Beale (28th), Jeremy Hayward (32nd) and Tim Brand (47th) were the other goalscorers at the Birsa Munda Stadium.
Natuli Nkobile (8th) and Koke Tevin (58th) scored for South Africa – both field goals.
The Kookaburras slowed down a bit in the third and fourth quarters, scoring just one goal. In the fourth quarter, both sides scored one goal each.
Australia’s five goals were field efforts while three came from penalty corners. Australia earned eight PCs against South Africa’s five.
In another Pool A match, Argentina and France scored a goal each in the last minute to end the game 5–5 in a dramatic encounter.
Argentina finished second in the pool with five points from three matches – one win and two draws – while France finished third with four points – one win, one draw and one loss.
Argentina will play the third-placed team in Pool B in their crossover match on January 22 in Bhubaneswar while France will take on the second-placed team in Pool B the next day.
France thought they had won the match 5–4 after Victor Charlot scored a penalty stroke in the last minute, but Argentina equalized seconds later through a penalty corner. Argentina earned four penalty corners in succession and scored from the last one to split the points with France.
Charlotte (36th, 38th, 48th and 60th) scored four goals for France, two of which came from the penalty spot. His first and last were from penalty strokes while the second and third were from PC. The second goal for France was scored by Tynevez Etienne in the 11th minute.
For Argentina, who played out a 3-3 draw against pool toppers Australia, Nicolás Della Torre (34th, 42nd and 60th) scored a hat-trick while Keenan Nicholls (3rd) and Martin Ferreiro (51st) scored the other goals.
The Netherlands and England made direct quarter-finals after topping Pool C and Pool D respectively on Thursday.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)