Australia end France’s dream run in hockey World Cup

BHUBANESWAR, India: France’s World Cup dreams in field hockey ended Wednesday as they lost to defending champions Australia 3-0 in the quarter-finals in Bhubaneshwar.

The Frenchmen, who came into the 16-team tournament ranked 20th in the world, won hearts after stunning Olympic champions Argentina 5-3 in the group stage.But top-ranked Australia proved too good for the emerging French team who were undone by the speed and accuracy of the Kookaburras.

Jeremy Hayward struck early with a perfectly executed penalty corner in just the fourth minute of the match and the Kookaburras maintained the 1-0 lead into the second quarter.The Aussie lead was doubled in the 19th minute with Blake Govers converting another penalty corner to take his tournament goals to six.

Zalewski sealed his side’s victory with a third penalty corner conversion in the 37th minute.Australia will now take on the winner of the quarter-final match between hosts India and the Netherlands slated for Thursday. Germany will meet Belgium in another last-eight clash.Earlier on Wednesday England edged out Argentina 3-2 to book a place in the semi-finals to be played this weekend.