Australia trounce South Africa 8-3 in Sultan Azlan Shah Cup filed hockey  x5
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| Australia |
June 1, 2005 
AP via Yahoo! Asia News
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Olympic champions Australia kept on course for a place in the final by trouncing South Africa 8-3 on Wednesday in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup field hockey tournament.
The win lifted defending champions Australia to the top of the league standings, with 11 points from five matches _ one point ahead of Pakistan, set to play against arch rivals India late Wednesday. The top two teams in the preliminary round of the seven-nation tournament will play in the final on Sunday.
Showing scant effects from the hard-fought 2-2 draw against Pakistan a day earlier, Australia dominated the match and raced to a 5-1 lead at halftime.
Eli Matheson opened the scoring for Australia in the 2nd minute with a powerful hit from the top of the semicircle, before South Africa replied through Emile Smith nine minutes later.
Robert Hammond put Australia back in the lead in the 19th minute and South Africa _ which is at the bottom of the table with just one point from five matches _ found itself swamped with trying to keep the score line down.
But loose marking by South Africa allowed Australia to score another three goals in four minutes through Travis Brooks, Jamie Dwyer and Michael McCann.
John McInroy reduced the deficit in the 50th minute, but in another attacking blitz, Australia replied with two goals within three minutes through Brent Livermore and Grant Schubert to put the score at 7-2.
Ricky Gay scored South Africa's third goal in the 59th minute to limit the rout, but Dwyer grabbed his second goal in the last minute to seal a massive 8-3 win for Australia.
Many teams are fielding untested combinations in the 10-day tournament being played in Kuala Lumpur to prepare for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Asia Cup champions India has already booked a World Cup berth, while Australia, New Zealand and South Africa will be looking to secure their berths later this year through continental tournaments. Malaysia, South Korea and Pakistan will compete later in World Cup qualifiers.
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