Dutch ladies win shoot-out title

The Netherlands produced one of the most memorable fight-backs in memory to win the Rabo FIH Champions Trophy by defeating world Champions Argentina in a dramatic penalty shoot-out.

Maartje Paumen scored a hat-trick to help her team recover from a 3-0 deficit to tie the match, before two goal-less periods of extra time lead to the first penalty shoot-out in Champions Trophy history. Carla Rebecchi, Luciana Aymar and Daniela Sruoga were all denied by Dutch shot-stopper Joyce Sombroek, which proved to be enough to give The Netherlands their first Champions Trophy since 2007, denying Argentina a fourth title in a row.

It was a brilliant day for The Netherlands, who also collected three of the six additional prizes in the closing ceremony. Team captain Maartje Paumen collected the Rabo Cup for the Best Player of the Tournament as well as the Shell Top Scorer awards, while Willemijn Bos was named as the Volvo Most Promising Player of the tournament.

Argentina’s Belen Succi was given the Heineken Cup for Best Goalkeeper, while Zhao Yudiao was given the Adidas Goal of the Tournament Award. The England team was named as the winners of the BDO Trophy for Fair Play.

Delighted Netherland coach Max Caldas said in the post match Press Conference: “They scored three goals with their first three chances, but the girls stayed cool. The 3-1 goal turned the game around for us, it was the difference … I think the public was the winner in this match they got to see a fantastic game. Luckily we won.”

When we went down 3-1 we also went down mentally”, said Argentina’s world cup winning coach Carlos Retegui. “That will happen, especially since we had a very young team here in Holland.”

Argentina captain Luciana Aymar was obviously disappointed with the outcome. “We had a good start in the first half, but when they put in the 3-1 goal it was hard for us. In the second half they played well, ran us hard and

we got tired.”

Picture perfect

Lidewij Welten scores Netherlands' second goal against Australia (Photo: FIH / Frank Uijlenbroek)

The Netherlands showed that despite missing Naomi van As they have more than enough talent at their disposal by comprehensively defeating Australia’s Hockeyroos 3-0 in the final match of the day here at the Rabo FIH Champions Trophy in Amstelveen.

Koreans lift AHF crown

MALAYSIA lost 3-1 to South Korea in the final of the Asian Hockey Federation Under-18 Cup in Singapore last night.
The Koreans took a 2-0 lead before Malaysia narrowed the gap off a Mohamed Nor Aqmal penalty corner attempt in the 35th minute, but could not find the equaliser in the second half.
The Korean goals were scored by Kim Ji Woon, You Min Young , Jeong Young Seok.
In the bronze battle, Pakistan hit a second sixer against hosts Singapore when they won 6-0 with ease. The score in their pool encounter was also the same.
Pakistan got their goals off Waseem Abbas (16th, 53rd), Qadir Muhammad Bilal (26th, 48th), Irfan Muhammad (31st) and Qadir Muhammad Arslan (47th).

Azmi: I'm not a quitter..

MALAYSIAN Hockey Federation (MHF) deputy president Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad yesterday clarified that he has not put in a quit letter as he is a fighter, not a quitter.
“I am not the kind that runs away from problems as I like to face them head-on.
“And even if I had wanted to quit, I would not have done it quietly but called for a press conference and announced it to everybody and give my reason for it,” said Nur Azmi.
Azmi also said his track record speaks for itself: “I have done my share in MHF, and still have much more work to do in the Federation.”
However, MHF assistant secretary Hashim Yusof has ap proached president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and said that he wants to quit the post, but has been told to re- consider his decision.
Meanwhile, the MHF Competitions Committee met yes terday and decided that the Malaysia Hockey League will be held even though there are many teething problems with a tight international hockey schedule.
It was decided that a meeting be held on July 16 with coaches, team managers and other MHL stakeholders to iron out the issue of national players playing or not playing in the league, and its format and date.
This is because the sponsors would also not be happy if national players, who are preparing for the Olympic Qual ifiers early next year, are not allowed to play in the MHL.

Azmi and Hashim call it a day

THE Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) boat was rocked by a tsunami yesterday when it was learnt that deputy president Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad and assistant secretary Hashim Yusof tendered their resignations yesterday.
It was reliably learnt that both of them have tendered their resignation letters to the MHF president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, but a decision has yet to be taken on the matter.
Hashim and Azmi are said to be unhappy with a certain official in the MHF, who they feel has taken over the running of the MHF into his own hands, and council members are being kept in the dark on certain matters and meetings.
A text sent to Tengku Abdullah inquiring about the matter was replied with: “This is news to me.”
However, it was learnt that Tengku Abdullah was shocked with the double resignation and wants to have a chat with both of them before deciding on the next course of action.
The MHF will merge with the Women’s Hockey Federation by November this year, and this could be one of the reasons for Hashim to resign as he feels that his services will no longer be needed.
Azmi beat Tengku Majid Sultan Iskandar, Datuk Dr SS Cheema and Mohamad Abd Hadi in the Nov 1 elections last year.
Hashim, the former HMF secretary was offered the as sistant’s post when the MHF changed their constitution to hire, instead of vote in their sectary.
Calls and text messages to Hashim and Azmi were not answered.