Australia to meet Korea in semi-final

Olympic champions Australia will meet Korea in semi-final after a fluent 3-0 win over Pakistan in the men's hockey WC.

Olympic champions Australia ran circles around Pakistan on way to a fluent 3-0 win in the concluding match of the league phase of the men's hockey World Cup here on Wednesday night.

HT Image

The victory took Australia (12 points) to the top of pool A ahead of Spain (11) and set up a semi-final meeting with Korea on Friday. Spain will face pool B toppers and World champions Germany in the other semi-final.

Pakistan ended fourth in their pool behind New Zealand and will be playing for 5-8 positions along with the Netherlands and England.

The Aussies, who had begun their league campaign with a surprise loss to Spain, exerted total control over the Pakistanis who could only launch a few sporadic attacks, forcing a couple of penalty corners that Sohail Abbas failed to put away.

At the other end, the Aussies struck through Bevan Geroge (13th, 50th) with Jamie Dwyer flicking home one of the top goals of the tournament after a brilliant solo run in the 33rd.