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| September 9, 2002 | Monday | Rajab 1, 1423 |
Rehan’s double gives Pakistan bronze
Pakistan 4 India 3
Netherlands 0 Germany 0
(Netherlands win 3-2 on penalties)
COLOGNE (Germany), Sept 8: Youngster Rehan Butt was the hero as Pakistan fought from 3-1 down to a stunning 4-3 victory over Asian arch-rivals India to win the bronze medal at the Champions Trophy hockey tournament on Sunday.
Rehan, 21, who had come to Cologne with just four caps, levelled at 3-3 in the 61st minute and then clinched victory two minutes later for the three-time tournament winners. Mudassar Ali Khan also scored twice for Pakistan.
Victory was sweet for Pakistan as they had lost the group match to the record Olympic champions India 3-2 earlier this week.
Pakistan’s bronze medal was the first they have won in the event since they were runners-up in 1998.
The match was marred by a clash between Pakistan’s Mohammad Saqlain and India’s S S Gill which led to players from both teams squaring up to each other.
The umpires showed green cards to the captains of both teams and made them call their teams together to cool their behaviour and the warning paid off as temperatures finally cooled.
The duel between India and Pakistan was as thrilling as their group match earlier in the week before the Pakistanis denied India their first medal in the event since a 1982 silver.
Jugray Singh scored his fifth goal of the tournament to give India an early lead and they were undeterred by Mudassar Ali Khan’s equalizer in the 27th.
Captain Dilip Tirkey restored India’s lead in the 48th off another penalty corner and Gagan Singh gave them what appeared a comfortable 3-0 lead with 18 minutes left.
However, Pakistan lay siege on India’s goal in a desperate attempt to get back into the match.
Captain Mohammad Sarwar was denied by the post in the 57th, but Mudassar’s second goal in the 59th and Rehan’s double in the 61st and 63rd completed Pakistan’s stunning comeback to the bronze medal they had also won at the recent Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
For both teams, the Champions Trophy also served as an important test for the Asian Games scheduled for later this year in Busan, South Korea.
The Netherlands made up for last year’s disappointment when they defeated title holders Germany 3-2 in a penalty stroke shootout to win their sixth title.
In 2001, the Germans beat then hosts Netherlands in the decider to claim the trophy a record eighth time.
But the Dutch did the same to the Germans this time around, clinching their sixth title on German soil when Ronald Brouwer converted the winning penalty stroke.
The game was scoreless after 70 minutes of regulation and 15 minutes of Golden Goal extra time.
Besides Brouwer, Taeke Taekema and Piet Hein Geeris converted penalty strokes for the Olympic champions while German goalie Christian Schulte stopped strokes from Bram Lomans and Teun de Nooijers.
Sascha Reinelt and Tibor Weissenborn were on target for the world champions Germans but captain Florian Kunz, Matthias Witthaus and Philipp Crone were denied by Dutch goalkeeper Guus Vogels.
The Dutch defeated Germany 5-2 in the group stage on Friday but the Germans indicated quickly on Sunday that the loss was only because they were already qualified for the final at the time.
Vogels was forced to pull out strong saves against Justus Scharowski’s solo run in the 17th and Witthaus two minutes later. He was also on his guard on Bjorn Michel’s penalty corner.
On the other side, Taekema aimed high and Geeris wide left.
Scoring chances were then sparse in the second half and extra time although the Dutch had gained control of the action by then. However, they were lucky when the Germans had what would have been the winner from Michel disallowed in extra time.
Australia finally won a match after five successive defeats.
A convincing 3-0 victory over South Korea in the fifth place match means they maintain their ever-present record in the world’s top six and consigned South Korea to relegation.
South Korea will be replaced by Argentina in the 2003 Champions Trophy.
Australia were far more direct than the Koreans and swept into a 2-0 lead with goals in the 15th and 19th minutes.
First Scott Webster turned in a free hit by Matthew Wells and then Jamie Dwyer converted a penalty stroke, awarded when he was fouled in front of goal.
South Korea strove hard to get back into the game but Australia sealed the victory when Michael McCann scored from close range in the 52nd minute.
Indian forward Dhanraj Pillay was voted player of the tournament and Clemens Arnold (Germany) the goalkeeper of the tournament.—dpa
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