Australia secure fighting 1-0 win over Japan in 9-16 play-off match

Chennai, Dec 4 (PTI) They came here to reclaim the title after 28 years but Australia fell short and had to dig deep to eke out a 1-0 win over a fighting Japan in the 9-16th classification match of the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup here on Thursday.

Hockey powerhouse Australia won the title way back in 1997 in Milton Keynes, England.

Coming into the tournament high on confidence after clinching the Sultan of Johor Cup in Malaysia, Australia were made to work hard by the Japanese.

It took a penalty-corner conversion by drag-flicker Ian Grobbelaar to break the deadlock in the 56th minute.

Australia started on an attacking note and dominated the proceedings in the first quarter, making quite a few circle penetrations but the Japanese defended stoutly.

A sloppy bit of defensive work by the Australians gave Japan their first real chance but Ryosuke Shinohara's reverse hit was saved by 'Burras' goalkeeper Madnus McCausland as the teams failed to break the deadlock in the first quarter.

The Japanese came back brilliantly into the game in the second quarter and gave Australia a run for their money till the last few minutes of the match.

Australia finally broke the stalemate in the 56th minute from the second of their three penalty corners through Grobbelaar.

A minute later, Grobbelaar had a chance to double the lead from another penalty corner but the flick was weak and couldn't get past the Japanese goalkeeper.

The Japanese didn't give up and secured a penalty corner a minute-and-half from the final hooter but failed to find the target.

But Japan would be happy with their lion-hearted effort, holding the mighty Australians for major part of the match.

Ireland beat Switzerland 5-2 ================== Ireland defeated Switzerland 5-2 in another 9-16th classification tie here.

Gregory Williams (36th, 38th) converted two penalty corners, while Samuel Dale (25th), Rex Dunlop (39th) and Louis Rowe (60th) also scored for Ireland.

Switzerland's goals were scored by Louis Thijs (30th) and Jens Fluck (50th).

South Africa defeat Malaysia 3-1 ==================== The 20-year-old Jaydon Brooker, who is playing his last international hockey tournament before switching to cricket, scored a brace, converting two penalty corners in the 18th and 39th minutes to hand South Africa a 3-1 win over Malaysia in a 9-16th classification match here.

Besides Brooker, Ross Montgomery (58th) also scored one for the African side. Malaysia's lone goal was scored by Aqil Mat (48th).

England beat Chile 3-1 ============== In the first 9-16th classification match of the day, England defeated Chile 3-1.

Kayden Draysey (13th), Max Anderson (19th) and Jonny Struch-Hibbitt (27th) scored for England, while Chile's only goal came from the sticks of Javier Vargas (23rd).

Madurai matches ========== Meanwhile in the first match of the day in Madurai, Austria defeated Namibia 2-0 in the shoot-off after both teams were locked 2-2 at the end of regulation time in the 17th-24th place classification match.

Benedikt Meisel (42nd minute) and Julian Kaiser (45th) scored for Austria, while John-Paul Britz (40th, 45th) struck a brace for Namibia.

In the shoot-off, Benediktand Meisel and Andor Losonci found the net for Austria, while Namibia drew a blank from five attempts.

Bangladesh then thrashed lowly Oman 13-0 in a 17-24th play-off match, riding on star dragflicker Amirul Islam's (11th, 15th, 15th, 34th, 53rd) five goals, while Rakibul Hasan (19th, 25th, 47th) too scored a hat-trick, besides goals from Md Abdullah (33rd, 47th), Md Saju (51st, 60th) and Obidul Joy (40th).

In the other 17th-24th play-off encounter in Madurai, Korea beat Egypt 6-3.

Minhyeok Lee (18th, 32nd, 50th, 52nd) slammed a hattrick for Korea, while Jeong Seob Song (23rd) and Seowon Park (26th) scored from penalty corners.

Basel Abdelmonem (8th, 37th) and Mohamed Ghanem (60th) were the goal-getters for the losers. PTI SSC AM SSC AM AM