THE HAGUE: The Netherlands women beat Australia 2-0 to claim a record seventh title in the field hockey World Cup at the Kyocera Stadium here on Saturday.

The win reasserts Dutch dominance in the sport, as they took Olympic gold in 2012 but finished second in the 2010 World Cup staged in Argentina.

Maartje Paumen opened scoring after 12 minutes on a penalty after Roos Drost was brought down inside the circle.

Veteran Kim Lammers doubled the score at 29 minutes, slapping in her own deflected shot.

Australia rarely had possession and struggled to find any weakness in the Dutch defense. They drew a penalty corner with one second to play in the first half but couldn’t capitalise.

Earlier on Saturday in the third-place playoff, Argentine women overpowered the US 2-1 at the Kyocera Stadium.

The reigning world champions lost their semi-final 4-0 to the Netherlands, while the US were defeated by Australia 3-1 in a penalty shootout.

Argentina captain Luciana Aymar put her Leonas ahead on eight minutes after tipping in a pass from Carla Rebecchi. Three minutes later, the US struck back with a penalty corner goal, when Lauren Crandall deflected a shot from Caroline Nichols into the net.

Aymar, the most capped player in the Argentine team with more than 360 international appearances, added another goal from open play on 21 minutes to seal victory.

The second half was goalless. The US worked hard to get on the scoreboard but the Argentine defence stood strong. A fourth place finish is the best result for the US at the World Cup.

In the 5-6 position playoff, New Zealand women blanked China 4-0.

It was a convincing win for the fifth-ranked Black Sticks who recorded 13 shots to four by seventh-ranked China.

Midfield dynamo Anita Punt scored twice with well struck penalty corner efforts -- the first in the fifth minute to get New Zealand off to a fast start -- captain Kayla Whitelock scored with a penalty stroke while Krystal Forgesson added a spectacular overhead effort.

Meanwhile in the men’s 9-10 position playoff, Akashdeep Singh scored two goals as India posted a comfortable 3-0 win over Asian champions South Korea.

With this win, India managed to avenge upon their 3-4 loss to South Korea in the final of last year’s Asia Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia.

Akashdeep opened India’s account in the sixth minute by tapping in a square-pass from SV Sunil and then rounded off the scoring with a reverse hit in a crowded circle in the 50th minute.

In between, Rupinder Pal Singh converted a penalty stroke in the 42nd minute after his penalty-corner flick was stopped by a defender with body on the goal-line.

India ended the World Cup one notch below their eighth-place finish at New Delhi edition in 2010.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2014