Pakistan have suffered their worst defeat ever in hockey as Australia thrashed the Green-shirts 9-1 in Melbourne leg of the International Festival of Hockey.
Blake Govers scored a hat-trick, while local boy Aaron Kleinschmidt hit a double in the comprehensive win at the State Netball and Hockey Centre.
The result sets up Kookaburras for Sunday’s gold medal match ahead of Thursday’s meeting with Zealand and the final group game against Japan on Saturday.
Blake Govers hit a hat-trick & Aaron Kleinschmidt netted a double in a big win to open our #IFOH2017 campaign!
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Report > https://t.co/GlhYYm2cZr pic.twitter.com/r0SCP583Zg— Kookaburras (@Kookaburras) November 8, 2017
Kiran Arunasalam, who scored Australia’s sixth goal, commended Australia’s performance. “It feels great to get a good win,” Melbourne-raised forward Arunasalam said.
We caught up with Kiran Arunasalam after our 9-1 win over Pakistan #IFOH2017 #PrideOfTheKookas pic.twitter.com/aIM8IUDX7N
— Kookaburras (@Kookaburras) November 8, 2017
Pakistan had the first chance of the game when Qadir Muhammad Arslan pushed his deflection wide. Australia responded with two goals before quarter-time, with Jeremy Hayward scoring again from a penalty corner in the eighth minute. Jake Whetton doubled the lead four minutes later with a fine angled effort.
Mahmood scored the only goal for Pakistan. Australia immediately responded through Kleinschmidt, before Govers made it 5-1 with a goal from a penalty corner in the 43rd minute.
Arunasalam added the sixth after Kleinschmidt’s good lead-up play, with Govers grabbing two final quarter goals to complete his hat-trick. Wickham also got the scoresheet.