Winning start for Australia, Britain in HWL Final

World champions Australia eked out a narrow 1-0 win over Belgium while Great Britain spanked defeated Canada 3-1 in Pool A matches of the Hockey World League (HWL) Final at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Stadium, here today.
In the second match of the day, legendary striker Jamie Dwyer scored a brilliant field goal in the 2nd minute to hand world No 1 Australia their first win in the tournament.
Even though the Belgians tried hard but they failed to break the resolute Australian defence.
Meanwhile earlier in the day, Great Britain beat Canada 3-1 to open their campaign o a positive note.

Great Britain, who left experienced players like Ashley Jackson and Barry Middleton for this tournament, struck an early goal through a field effort from Simon Mantell (2nd minute) to take the lead.
But Canada bounced back strongly and equalised within two minutes through a field goal from Mark Pearson to make it 1-1.

The British side, however, scored two more field goals within two minutes in the second quarter to make the scoreline 3-1 in their favour.
Mantell scored his second of the day in the 23rd minute before Nick Catalin extended the lead in the next minute from another field strike.

Thereafter, both the teams tried hard but failed to break the opposition defence.
(REOPENS DEL 60)
Minutes later, Sreejesh again came to India's rescue when he kept away Florian Fuchs' reverse shot.
In the 39th minute, Germany secured their first penalty corner which they wasted.
India's relentless pressure, however, bore fruit in the 47th minute when Akashdeep equalised with a fine reverse hit to the left of the German goalkeeper after receiving an assist from Manpreet Singh.
The Indians maintained their pressure in the rest of the match but failed to break the German defence, although they came close to scoring a few occasions.

The Germans too exerted some pressure in the final few minutes of the match but the Indian defence was strong enough to thwart the threats.
By virtue of this draw, India opened their account in the tournament while the Germans registered their second consecutive draw after their goalless finish against Netherlands yesterday.
(REOPENS SPD 12)
Meanwhile in the other match of Pool B, defending champions Netherlands defeated Argentina 3-2 in a closely fight duel.
The Netherlands scored three field goals which came from the sticks of Thierry Brinkman (10th minute), Seve van Ass (17th) and Roel Bovendeert (22nd).
But Argentina made a strong fightback through drag-flicker Gonzalo Peillat (30th, 39th) who converted two penalty corners to bring the Los Leones back in the match.

The Netherlands will face hosts India in their last pool match on Monday while Argentina will play Germany.