Australia 7 China 0

In the curtain raiser of the 23rd Azlan Shah Cup, Australia whacked China 7-0 to assert their intention of lifting their eighth Azlan Shah Cup crown.
   It took the defending champions only three minutes to score when Nicholas Budgeon sent in a low penalty corner drive. Budgeon went on to claim his hat-trick by scoring another two in the 56th and 65th minutes off penalty corner attempts.
   The rookie of 15 caps, Budgeon showed a rare touch with penalty corners which was always a problem with the Australian side in previous years and he was aptly named as the man-of-the-match.
   The other five goals were scored by Trent Mitton (20th), Jamie Dwyer (34th), Jacob Whetton (37th) and Russell Ford (47th).