The Hague, July 4 : The Dutch women's hockey team won the Champions Trophy in Amstelveen on Sunday. They came back from a 3-0 deficit in the final and beat Argentina after shoot-outs.
In a rematch of the 2010 World Cup final, which was won by Argentina, Carla Rebecchi gave the hosts an early scare by netting the fastest goal of the tournament after only 17 seconds. Luciana Aymar and Daniela Sruoga even made it three, but things were not decided yet.
Maartje Paumen converted three penalty corners on behalf of the Netherlands and therefore an extension of the match was needed. In the extra time both teams did not score and shoot-out had to decide the outcome.
Rebecchi, Aymar and Daniela Sruoga were all denied by Dutch goal keeper Joyce Sombroek, which gave the Netherlands a record equaling sixth Champions Trophy title and their first since 2007. Australia are also 6-time Champions Trophy winners.
The final standings in Pool C of the Champions Trophy causes controversy on Saturday as South Korea was at first awarded a final spot, besides the Netherlands, based on their slightly better goal difference in the final pool.
However, Argentina issued a protest against their third place in the group, because according to them the results in the first group phase should have been counted as well according to the regulations. At first the appeal was rejected by the tournament director, but the appeal jury determined that Argentina should be ranked second in Pool C and South Korea should be ranked third.
New Zealand finally finished third by beating the South Koreans 3-2 on Sunday, England defeated Australia 2-0 to grab the fifth place and China ended seventh after winning 5-3 against Germany.
