Pakistan face Australia for Tri-Nations Hockey title today

Michelle Payne November 3, 2011 0

Pakistan face Australia for Tri-Nations Hockey title today

Matthew Swann. Courtesy: Getty Images

KARACHI: The Green Shirts are all set to take on the world number one hockey team Australia today in the title match of the Tri-Nations Hockey Tournament in Perth today.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) released the latest field hockey international rankings Wednesday which saw Pakistan slipping down to ninth place while Australia remained on top with a healthy lead of 150 points over second-placed Germany.

Australia have played superb hockey in the last year or so and the confidence was telling in their game the other day when they outclassed Pakistan by 8-2 before denting India by 5-0 during the ongoing tournament.

However, Pakistani team officials believe that the feeling of the top rank will put Aussies under pressure while playing a team as low as ninth-ranked in the final match of the tournament.

Pakistan managed to qualify into the final after playing a 1-1 draw against India and for the title they will have to exhibit their best game.

Khwaja Junaid while talking to Pakistani media on Wednesday said, “The fact is that we are ranked number nine in the world while the Australia are the number one team. They are by far the best team in the world and have been beating even their top leading opponents with an enviable ease in recent times.

Pakistani coach, who is a former Olympian, was hopeful of his team’s chances against the mighty Aussies. He said, “It will be Australia who will be under pressure because everybody expects them to win easily tomorrow. On the other hand, we have nothing to lose. That will be mean that our boys can go all out and play their hearts out for an upset win against the Australians.

With this match, Pakistan will conclude their Australian tour where they also played a new nine-a-side hockey tournament in October where they managed to stay at third position, just ahead of their arch-foes India.

The latest FIH International Rankings are here as under:

Men

Australia 1 (2,620 points); Germany 2 (2,470); The Netherlands 3 (2,213); Spain 4 (1,990); England 5 (1,947); Korea 6 (1,788); New Zealand 7 (1,610); Argentina 8 (1,470); Pakistan 9 (1,460); India 10 (1,385).

Women

The Netherlands 1 (2,063 points); Argentina 2 (2,030); Germany 3 (1,765); England 4 (1,696); China 5 (1,675); New Zealand 6 (1,615); Australia 7 (1,548); Korea 8 (1,423); Japan 9 (1,318); United States 10 (1,233).