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Olympics Field Hockey News: Kookaburras and now Hockeyroos out of the Quarter-Finals to the Netherlands and China respectively all within the last 24 hours

by Sports Benches

From Day 9 yesterday, the Men’s Kookaburras aspirations of going one better for gold at Paris 2024 unfortunately came to an end in the Quarter-Finals at the end of the Netherlands, 2-0. Yes, the first half or first two x 15 mins weren’t bad for a start with both teams being scoreless as they had plenty of opportunities to strike a few through the net against one of the best Top 2 hockey teams in the world.  We also thought they can cause them a huge storm, having done so back in February earlier this year during the Indian FIH Pro League mini-tournament. But then series of silly mistakes, poor attacking execution and poor discipline ultimately forced their hand to the Dutch with 2 x 2nd half goals en route to their semis berth v Spain on Wednesday at 10pm AEST – one via penalty corner in the 3rd x 15 mins followed by an open strike in the last 15.

Now we’ve just seen the same with the women’s Hockeyroos side just now on Day 10 also from the Quarter-Finals who lost by one goal to China 3-2 – despite a really improved 2nd half play where they did their best to save the match but it was too little, too late unfortunately. They got away with the early goal which was so far, so good – especially when they dominated the last 2 x 15 minute plays by sharing the possession with China after half-time. 

It’s just a shame they’ve been inconsistent play across the pitch, such as the ill-discipline for the most part including the last few mins under presssure that allowed China to cash in & hold them accountable with goals coming their way. The Hockeyroos surrendered an early 1-0 lead into a 3-1 trail behind China ahead of half-time and then a 2-3 loss in the end by a single goal difference as they cannot play any further now much like the Men’s Kookaburras in this Olympics tournament. 

Instead, China will be waiting their next opponent for the semi final come Wednesday night when Belgium v Spain to round off today’s Women’s Quarter-Final day at 4am AEST tomorrow. Hats off to head coach and former Hockeyroos player Alyson Annan with the win, who knows how to get a good sniff of the Hockeyroos, having won a few times over them time and time again as we’ve seen back in April 2024.

For now, Hockey Australia will need to look at both the men’s and women’s teams performances very closely soon enough and see where they will go from there over the next 3-5 years. As said, there were some signs of promise prior to the Olympics that they can both thrive against the world’s best where a Top 3-4 finish would be the bare minimum – no pressure.

But both of their own early QF exits now meant that the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos are still far from the very best that they’re trying to accomplish when you look at the likes of both the Netherlands & Belgium. Looks like we won’t be seeing Colin Batch & Katrina Powell back in the dugout as their respective men’s and women’s teams coaches going into 2025.

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Olympics Tennis News: Novak Djokovic finally achieves his long-awaited Olympic Games dream following a close straight sets win over Carlos Alcaraz

by Sports Benches

That was another close match between two of the best Tennis players we’ve had seen really this time in an Olympics level by both veteran Novak Djokovic from Serbia and rising star Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz for the gold medal match at Court Phillipe Chatrier. After two really close sets that all both ended via tiebreaks, the veteran stood out strong in none other than Djokovic who finally found the missing puzzle with the gold medal win.

The final score was 7-6 with 7-3 tiebreak and also 7-6 with 7-2 tiebreak that lasted nearly three hours in 2 hours & 50 mins.

Not bad from Alcaraz for a start when he got the ball rolling but then he began to struggle when it comes to the tiebreak under pressure and that’s where he was outrun by Djokovic on both occasions unfortunately here and there. Now that Djokovic had his moments and he’s age 37 right now, let’s hope he can get an Olympic gold at least but that will have to come in 2028 at Los Angeles. Plus, great to see him play at the Roland Garros over this past week alongside his idol and also veteran grand slam champion Rafael Nadal for a couple in the doubles too who played his last few matches for good.

At last but not least, Djokovic has conquered it all having won 3 x Roland Garros titles that now includes an Olympics gold medal at the same Roland Garros venue. Not only he got away against Rafa earlier this week during the 2nd round but he also just defeated another Spaniard involving Rafa’s heir in Alcaraz overnight for gold. Okay, the first couple of games during the first set wasn’t easy. However, he never gave up as always that cemented his place as a veteran grand slam star, and yet he’s done it including a long 2nd set where Djokovic stood his ground well through the very end to end his 16-year long wait – well done!!

Looks like it’s well and truly going to be the last time we’ve see these legends on-court with Rafa now retired while Novak may still have a bit longer to go before he too will eventually a call a day at some point but mostly like before LA 2028 by then. For now, bring on the 4th and final grand slam season of 2024 with the US Open tournament in New York beginning at the end of August to early September. 

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Olympics News: Aussie Dolphins Swim Team finished 2nd in the swimming medal tally behind USA by only one gold medal with back-to-back silver on the final night

by Sports Benches

Yes, Team USA may have officially been crowned as the Olympic swimming champions at Paris 2024 while we were so close by a gap of one gold medal behind in 2nd at a total of 7. But so proud of our Aussie Dolphins swimmers though who put us on the map over these first eight days including two silver on the 9th & final night. Gotta say Meg Harris was so close in the Women’s 50m Freestyle Final behind Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom while Mollie O’Callaghan rescued the Aussies yet again when she anchored the Women’s 4 x 100m Medley Final for freestyle from 4th to 2nd in the last swimming race of Paris 2024 at Paris La Defense Arena.

We start with our best freestyle specialist Mollie O’Callaghan whose finishing ability was world-class that can wow everyone out of nowhere as we’ve seen in the 200m Freestyle Final including several other team relay races that won her a few gold medals plus the final night Women’s 4 x 100 medley relay silver in her first Olympics campaign. 

So does our Queen of Backstroke Kaylee McKeown who successfully defended the 100 and 200m Final races of her specialist discipline while she wasn’t bad when it comes to both team relays as well as medley & individual medley races.

We also can’t forget our best middle distance swimmer Ariarne Titmus when she made us proud on the first day after she defended the 400m Freestyle Final from Tokyo 2020, and last but not least Cameron McEvoy – who defied all odds with his breakthrough 50m Freestyle sprint Final performance – that won finally him an Olympic Gold Medal on top of his World Championship win at the ripe age of 30.

Plus, we can give shoutouts to so many more like Meg Harris where she’s not just an excellent team player but also did really well in the 50m Freestyle sprint earlier this AM in 2nd. And last but not least, Emma McKeon & Shayna Jack whom they are also excellent team players that won them Olympic team relay gold medals. Jack has came back from a long way while things won’t be the same without McKeon after her decorated career.

Where to now for our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team? Their message to Team USA is well played but our battles ain’t over when we can go dominate the World Championships once again next year and 2027, as well as the long-awaited 2026 Pan Pacs and the next Olympics on their home turf come 2028 in Los Angeles.

For now, merci & au revoir Paris as the our Aussie Dolphins are on their way back home.

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2024 ANZ Premiership Grand Final: Northern Mystics go back-to-back Champions over the Minor Premiers Central Pulse 53-53 thanks to Grace Nweke’s championship-winning shot

by Sports Benches

What a Grand Final we had just witnessed from TSB Bank Arena in Wellington through the best 60 minute tug-o-war between Minor Premiers Central Pulse and Defending champions and also last weekend’s Elmination Final winner Northern Mystics. Mystics fired off really well while Pulse overcame their poor start that follows up with an improved 2nd x 15 min performance as Mystics lead by two goals going into half-time, 25-27. 

Both teams continued to work so hard whose gap for the overall lead was so close together that went down the wire during the other side of these last half-hour. At the end of the day though, it was the Mystics who got away with another Premiership triumph once again at the very last second by a solitary goal 53-54 thanks to star goal shooter Grace Nweke.

This is the Mystics 3rd title since its inception back in 2017 having first won it during the start of the 2020s in 2021 followed by back-to-back years of dominance including today’s grand final that began last year. After 45 regular round games across 15 weeks as well as 2 season-ending match-ups, we now can’t wait for the home Silver Ferns season beginning with the three-match series v the Vitality Roses from England next month.

Looks like the Silver Ferns is ready to go with the now 3 x championship-winning goal shooter who also just scored the last-second championship-winning shot in 22-year-old Grace Nweke for the Northern Mystics. She too got away with 48 out of 55 shots in front of the circle including three rebounds and four general play turnovers at a total of 87%, especially when it’s never so easy going up against the best of the best in the 2024 ANZ Premiership Grand Final. Congrats to her by the way as go enjoy your GF win!!

Another Mystics player to look out for in this year’s GF is the experienced Peta Toeava at Wing Attack. She also has been outstanding all season where Toeava has been an excellent supportive attacking player that allows her front two to get ahead on the scoring thanks to her excellent physicality and skillset in spite of her height. She racked up 28 goal-assists, 23 centre pass receives & 35 feeds which was amazing as above every time when Toeava got the best out of Grace Nweke & Filda Vui. We don’t know what the future holds for Nweke but Toeava kept the No.1 Mystics cohort strong from 3rd in the regular to ANZ Premiership champions once again.

And Central Pulse Goal Keeper Kelly Jackson gave the Mystics front two attackers a really tough time all along that reflects her natural game where she’s been there and done that many times before at all top levels including International matches following an excellent 2024 campaign as Minor Premiers. She has the tall reach as always to snatch the ball away every time the Mystics looked hesitant, having collected three rebounds and one intercept. It’s just a shame that her side’s attack looked hesitant themselves, particularly in the last few minutes before it was too little, too late.

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Olympics Swimming News: Aussie Dolphins Swim Team still in for a fantastic finish going into the ninth & final day tomorrow morning with one silver & two bronze medals on Day 8

by Sports Benches

Okay, the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team might not have got away with any gold at all on Day 8 – which wasn’t what we wanted thanks to arch-rivals Team USA. Instead, they only won one silver thanks to Ariarne Titmus in the Women’s 800m Freestyle Final behind Katie Ledecky & two bronze, with Kaylee McKeown unexpectedly following Alex Walsh’s DQ in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley Final, as well as a team effort in the Mixed 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final.

However, we’re still just holding on the Olympics Swimming Medal Tally that tight by one gold medal totalling 7 so far ahead of Team USA going into the ninth and final day’s program tomorrow morning our time.

Oh so close from Arnie who wasn’t far off Katie’s radar all along but not quite enough to close her down on time unfortunately on time. But she did her personal best nonetheless against someone that is already and still an U.S. Olympic swimming legend in none other than now 4 x Women’s 800m Freestyle Olympic Games champion Katie Ledecky. 

Congratulations to Katie as she’s simply unstoppable since the age of 15 that goes way back to London 2012 – that’s all. Looks like she will want to keep on going maybe at least one more towards achieving a homecoming feat when the next Summer Games will be in LA 2028.

For McKeown, she might not have the best race once again this time in the women’s 200m IM Final. She’s happy to accept bronze though when Team USA’s Alex Walsh was disqualified on what has been a huge week for her in Paris thanks to her two gold medals through her specialist backstroke discipline this week including the Women’s 200m Final win yesterday.

But wait, McKeown isn’t done just yet when she later went back into the pool to start off just the backstroke part for the 4 x 100m Mixed Medley Final. It wasn’t the easiest of starts to say off the back of a long night once again while nothing much came from Joshua Yong during the breaststroke stint, but Matthew Temple was not bad though for the butterfly leg despite an underwhelming run earlier on in his specialist Men’s 100m final race earlier this morning before Mollie O’Callaghan freestyled her way home to a team bronze.

Now the ninth and final day’s swimming session will only be Finals same time tomorrow morning with 2-3 gold medals up for grabs since the heats were done the other day. We got Shayna Jack onboard alongside Meg Harris in the women’s 50m Freestyle Final as hoping that the best is yet to come from Jack for gold. 

Plus, we might be in for a 50/50 chance in the Men’s 4 x 100 Medley Relay Final but sure our women are 100% confident on getting the job done for their own 4 x 100m Medley race. After that, the Olympics swimming program would be finished by then with Australia hoping to def. Team USA for the overall Swimming honours once again – this time at Olympic Games level following their World Champs triumph in Fukuoka, Japan just a little over last year.

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Olympics Tennis News: Super Saturday at Court Phillipe Chatrier with both the men’s doubles final as Matt Ebden & John Peers won gold including the women’s singles final

by Sports Benches

What a Final it was at Court Phillipe Chatrier as Matt Ebden and John Peers are now Olympic champions in the Men’s Doubles Final over Team USA’s duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram out of a tight three set contest. The last time Australia won a gold medal there at an Olympics level was back in Atlanta in 1996 by both Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde. Now fast forward to 28 years, Australia finally got their first gold medal in the 21st century for Tennis thanks to the superstar doubles duo of Ebden & Peers.

It wasn’t the easiest of starts when Ebden and Peers were behind earlier on, even though they had some fair share of battles before Team USA locked themselves in with the 1st set lead. But the game wasn’t over just yet when they began to turn themselves around from the set down & that paid off big time where they kept on going by putting their opponents under pressure until the very end. Now they might have almost lost 3 out of 4 gold medal points but at least that crucial final serve was good enough to see off both Krajicek and Ram for the gold medal win.

Commiserations from Krajicek and Ram whom they played oh so well off the back of a good headstart to stay ahead of Ebden and Peers. They never gave them an easy run for sure but they did however have slipped away at times following the 1-0 set lead where the final set best of ten tiebreak decider has been activated by Australia before Peers had the last say for the final serve for that gold medal point.

And how good was China Qinwen Zheng who finally got her breakthrough that may not be exactly at a grand slam at this stage but at least she won a gold medal at the Roland Garros with the straight sets (6-2 & 6-3) win over Croatia’s Donna Vekic. She too had a powerful first set performance while Zheng took her time well v the improving Vekic as the match goes on before she stood her ground that made her an Olympics champion for China. Sure she has unfinished ahead and that will be winning a grand slam after she fell short to Aryna Sabalenka back in late January of this year at Melbourne Park.

On Vekic, it wasn’t the match she wanted when she fired off not bad on both sets including some progress from the opening set down. But just couldn’t catch up nor found the long run consistency to put Zheng under pressure. She did make Croatia proud though as Vekic collected the silver medal ahead of Iga Swiatek from Poland who won bronze v Anna Karolína Schmiedlová from Slovakia (6-2 & 6-1).

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Olympics Soccer News: An early Jean-Phillipe Mateta header strike off a corner enough to send host France into the semi-final v Egypt after a 1-0 win over Argentina in Marseille

by Sports Benches

We also had a rematch of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final this time at an Olympics soccer match between France and Argentina at Stade Velodrome in Marseille.

This time, the one and only early header off a corner by Crystal Palace No.9 Jean Phillipe-Mateta was enough to see off Argentina the whole way through for France thanks to a series of Argentinian missed opportunities with the 1-0 win. Now the host nation will take on Egypt on Tuesday morning at 5am AEST whose next opponents got away with the win earlier today v Paraguay via penalties 5-4 when both teams settled the score 1-1 after a long 120 minutes of open time.

Disappointing from Argentina with the loss despite having lots of ball there to try and kick out France of the Men’s Olympic soccer tournament. But then they kept on hitting and missing these shots on goal that gave the French keeper a sigh of relief time and time again, which was unfortunately not good enough at the end of the day following their last 8 exit. They might have made the knockout stages for the first time since their gold medal run back in 2008 in Beijing but they will have to wait four years if Argentina wants it back that could be 20 years since their last Olympics soccer triumph come LA in 2028.

And well done to France on what has been a magnificent win v Argentina on home soil with unfinished business by their head coach Thierry Henry. Love seeing Phillipe-Mateta sprint on time for that header where he’s so lethal in all fronts that a No.9 should do as proven in the Premier League for Crystal Palace. Yes, there’s nothing the French can do when their second goal was ruled out by VAR.  But despite not having much ball opportunities, the French were fortunate enough to escape the Argentinians unscathed with the 1-0 win. Now they’ve yet to have played in Paris so far but it looks like France will need their full support on Monday night over there in Lyon, so they can hopefully finish off a high v the winner of Morocco or Spain.

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Olympics Swimming News: Cam McEvoy finally won his first gold at age 30 while Kaylee McKeown defended another gold in the 200m back on Night 7 of 9 for Australia

by Sports Benches

The Aussie Dolphins Swim Team are well clear going into this weekend before the Olympics swimming program is done, having collected two gold medals on Day 7 at a total of 7 right now, which they’re now three gold medals ahead of Team USA in 2nd on this swimming medal tally.

First of all, “Big Boy” Cameron McEvoy finally won an Olympics gold on his fourth campaign out in the Men’s 50m Freestyle Final at age 30 while Kaylee McKeown is the No.1 backstroking Queen after she defended her 200m Final race on top of her 100m Final race from the other day.

What a moment from McEvoy when he was neck-and-neck with everyone all along before he was really the first one to touch the wall at a time of 21.25 – just 0.05 tenths of a second between the difference that consigned Team GB’s Ben Proud into second for the silver medal. He never gave up as he too has finally became an Olympic champion after also being the first time World Champion last year in Fukuoka, Japan – go you good thing!

And on Kaylee, she’s the superstar we have got in our backstroking arsenal after she defended her 100 and 200m Olympic gold medal titles. The only other person who has done it last time around was West Germany’s (now Germany) Roland Mattes back in 1968 and 1972. Okay, she fired off not bad where the start could’ve been hers to get ahead so Kaylee can try and break another world record there. But at least she saved her energy till the end while keeping in check with her competitors and yet she’s done well to lock them out en route to another Olympics gold towards the end of the wall.

Now Day 8 tomorrow morning is going to be huge with 3-4 gold medal shots that will hopefully see our Aussies one step closer to safeguarding this Olympics Swimming medal tally in Paris 2024.

Kaylee will be back this time in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley; Yes, she wasn’t the best in her semis race but sure she’ll come back recharged to try and win another gold. So does Ariarne Titmus and Lani Pallister in the women’s 800m Freestyle Final – no doubt Arnie will look to stop Team USA’s Katie Ledecky once again. Don’t forget the Mixed 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final that could mean bonus points for the Dolphins going into the ninth & final day & Matt Temple as the lone Aussie in the Men’s 100m Butterfly.

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Olympics Tennis News: Carlos Alcaraz too good for Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semi with Matt Ebden & John Peers also on their way to an Olympic Gold Final in the doubles

by Sports Benches

What a way to finish off Friday here with two brilliant semi-final Tennis matches we’ve just saw tonight at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris coming from Stade Roland Garros where Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz was too good for Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets (6-1, 6-1) & so does our Aussie doubles pair of Matt Ebden & John Peers (7-5, 6-2) also in straight sets during the 2nd men’s doubles semi against USA’s Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz. Alcaraz will await his next opponent for Sunday’s gold medal match between the winner of the other men’s semi-final in either Serbian legend Novak Djokovic or Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti (another Wimby rematch from last month) later on while Ebden/Peers isn’t done with Team USA just yet going into tomorrow night where they will take on Austin Kraijcek & Rajeev Ram for the Men’s Doubles gold medal match.

It wasn’t Auger-Aliassime’s day today having came here off a great run up until this point including two good wins against Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round and Norway’s Casper Ruud in the Quarter-Finals the other day. However, going up against a seasoned grand slam champ is never easy to say unfortunately and that proved too good to be true other than some early head starts v Alcaraz. His time isn’t done yet with the Bronze Medal match tomorrow to hopefully give Canada another medal against whoever loses the other semi final in either Djokovic or Musetti. Looking at Alcaraz now, he’s simply unstoppable – that’s all! He too never looked out of place having dominated all two sets en route to an Olympics gold medal Final. Looks like it’s going to be another round of Alcaraz v Djokovic if Djokovic can win v Musetti again later on as the young Spaniard would love to win another major honour at the same Court Phillipe Chatrier all in the one year this time for gold.

And how good was Ebden and Peers on what has been an unreal performance to hold off Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz in straight sets. That first stage was really close where they both found a way to get out unscathed and although they had a few bumps along the way with the 1-0 lead but at least both Ebden and Peers took their time well to wrap all things up for the semi-final win. Hard luck to Paul and Fritz by the way who weren’t far off the pace of Ebden and Peers throughout the opening set but struggled mightily to stay in the game during the set, even though a couple of late saves wasn’t enough to warrant them a big turnaround from there. Now Ebden and Peers are one stop closer now to emulating “The Woodies” pair of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde from Atlanta 96′ if they can get this done tomorrow & Australia is surely right behind them.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: India def. Kookaburras at last in an Olympics match with the 3-2 win thanks to their fast start

by Sports Benches

It was a tight match just now in the last few group stage Field Hockey matches for the men’s leg between the Kookaburras v India at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir (Pitch 2) with India off to a fast start (back-to-back goals in the 1st 15) while Kookaburras only got the one goal during the 2nd x 15 min, and nothing much has changed other than a late Kookaburras surge to try and arrest India towards the end, which was unsuccessful that delighted the Indian team & its supporters with the 3-2 win.

Credit to India with their win today off the back of their dominant possession that got the Kookaburras defenders rattled where most of the goals have come from open play including another via a penalty stroke – hats off there to Harmanpreet Singh for his two goal performance. They could’ve done more when looking to convert these strikes off penalty corners but at least having a rock solid defense on top of a well-structured attack would do enough for India to stop the Kookaburras from settling the score, especially during the last few minutes when the opposition’s last-minute appeal wasn’t successful with the 3-2 win. Yes, they have finally done it v Australia in an Olympics Field Hockey match for the first time that goes way back to Munch in 1972 where they’ve last won it beforehand until now 3-1 via the Pool B group stage match. Now their next match will either be Team GB or Spain depending on the final group stage results later tonight if Team GB can beat Germany there since they finished 2nd in their Group B ladder regardless of the Argentina v Belgium result there due to goal difference.

Now the Kookaburras would be left frustrated and disappointed with their missed scoring opportunities that eventually came back to bite them when India got away with three goals before it was too little, too late. They had picked up some ball including come circle time up front, having took one penalty corner goal going into half-time where the Kookaburras weren’t far away from India’s radar for the overall lead including their second goal off a penalty stroke. It’s just a shame they struggled to match the counter-attack India has set up all game via open play and not even the ill-discipline has helped that much either. All they can hope now is for Belgium to beat Argentina later on and even Team GB to beat Germany at the same time, so the Kookaburras can avoid taking on the No.1 ranked Netherlands from Pool A in the Quarter-Finals starting this weekend.

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