Wednesday, July 15, 2009 SYDNEY: The Netherlands leads the women's field hockey Champions Trophy after beating Germany 1-0. Australia drew 2-2 with China and now must win its two remaining games against England and Olympic and World Cup gold medallists the Netherlands to have any chance of being in the final on Sunday. The Netherlands captain Janneke Schopman scored the only goal of the match, deflecting in Maatje Paumen's fourth penalty corner chance at the left post to beat Yvonne Franks in Germany's goal. The Netherlands always looked in control, dominating possession with 11 shots on goal to Germany's one, and six penalty corners to Germany's nil. The Dutch captain Janneke Schopman liked the Netherlands level of control but not the lack of goals. "We have not made the most of the opportunities we have had to score," Schopman said. Maatje Paumen continued her poor form, converting only one of six penalty corner chances for the Netherlands, giving her a conversion rate of three from 19 in this tournament. Germany captain Fanny Rinne said their defence was not strong enough. "We concede six penalty corners and that is too many against Netherlands," Rinne said. Meanwhile, China's Jiahui Liao crushed Australia's vocal local supporters, scoring the equaliser five minutes from time to give China its first tournament points. The four second half goals had China playing catch-up. Ashleigh Nelson's deflected in Casey Eastham's cross from the left followed by Quingling Song's equaliser for China. Eastham converted Australia's sixth penalty corner to put Australia ahead 2-1 only to have Liao scamble the ball into the net in the dying minutes of play. The split round in which each team plays two matches over three days continues Wednesday with China against Germany and Argentina against England.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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