Germany wins Champions Trophy

Germany became the first team to win the Champions Trophy eight times, when they defeated Australia 2-1 in the final of the 23rd men's Rabobank hockey tournament on Sunday.

Two goals by Florian Kunz, the tournament's top scorer, saw Germany win all six of their matches in the world's annual top six event.

Germany are European champions, and had clinched the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia in August. But the Champions Trophy triumph is the first major title since they last won the prize in 1997, in Australia.

Earlier in the day, Olympic champions and title defenders the Netherlands won the bronze, crushing Pakistan 5-2 in the play-offs, while Sydney Olympic silver medalist Korea lost to England 5-6 after penalty strokes.

Florian Kunz opened the score from a penalty-corner with a waist high flick shot in the last minute before half-time.

In the 45th minute, Matthew Smith scored the equalizer for Australia, who had also won the trophy seven times before the final started. But Australian hopes didn't last long. Seconds later, German team captain Kunz won the tournament for Germany with a drag flick from a penalty-corner.

Australia had two great chances to level nine minutes later. Jeremy Hiskins failed to take both chances. He shot straight at the 'keeper from eight yards and then saw Arnold Clemens save again when Australia were awarded a highly controversial penalty-stroke.

As at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in August, Kunz was voted player of the tournament. He also became top scorer with an impressive record of ten goals from six matches. Pakistan's Sohail Abbas was second with nine goals.

Dutch coach Joost Bellaart told a news conference he was satisfied with the result against Pakistan, citing his team's ability to recover from Saturday's 3-2 defeat against Germany.

Having lost four of their key players since the Sydney Olympics, the Dutch are in the process of building a new team.

"With a somewhat unexperienced team, this was the maximum feasible result," he said. "We didn't belong in the finals, since we lost against both finalists."

Playing for bronze against Pakistan, the Dutch controlled the pitch, creating many chances and keeping their ranks closed.

Just a week ago, they managed a 1-1 draw against Pakistan in their first match of the tournament.

But after half an hour of play on Sunday, Holland were already up 3-0, with goals from Teun de Nooijer, Ronald Brouwer and Taeke Taek ema.

In the second half, Kashif Jawwad brought the score back to 3-1. But only three minutes later, Marten Eikelboom sealed the match, scoring his second goal in the tournament.

Coming back from an injury, drag flick specialist Bram Lomans - who was sidelined for most of the tournament- scored from a penalty-corner after 51 minutes of play.

One minute before the end of the game, Sohail Abbas scored his eighth goal of the tournament.

The fifth/sixth-place play-off ended 3-3 and after 15 minutes of goalless extra-time, England took the penalty competition 3-2.

They had beaten Korea 4-3 when the two teams met on the first day of the competition.

Korea led three times in the match but England, who were unsound defensively, managed to score two open play goals in the last six minutes to save the game.

Korea's scorers were Jung-soon Lee from a penalty-corner, Jong-hyun Hwang and Seung-tae Song while Danny Hall converted a penalty for England whose other scorers were Jerome Goudie and Mark Pearn.

Hall had his shot saved from the first stroke of the shoot-out but England converted their next three through David Mathews, Jon Wyatt and Tom Bertram while Korea suffered from Taylor's brilliant anticipation in goal.

Agencies

Complete Coverage: 23rd Men's Champions Trophy 2001