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Australia fail to make women's hockey semis
August 23, 2004 00:57 IST
Defending champions Australia were knocked out of the Olympic women's hockey tournament on Sunday, going down 1-0 to the Netherlands and missing out on the chance of a third gold in a row.The result put Germany through to the last place in the semi-finals.
Australia needed to beat the Dutch to jump ahead of Germany in the pool ranking to get a semi-final slot.
Germany meet Pool B winners China in the last four.
The Netherlands will play world champions Argentina in the other semi-final.
China worked their way to a 3-2 win over Argentina and became the first team to overpower "Las Leonas" (The Lionesses) at the Athens Games.
The win gave China the top place in Pool A.
Both teams played solid, strong and fast hockey but fourth-ranked China pulled 2-0 ahead in the first half with a penalty corner and a stunning reverse stick shot from Fu Baorong that nipped between the post and the goalkeeper's feet.
Aymar drew level by half-time but only China's Tang Chunling could find the net in the second half.