Australia to face South Africa for third spot in FIP World Championship Finals
Despite losing in the hands of India and Pakistan, the South African and Australian polo teams are looking to get a spot in the FIP World Championship Final that is scheduled to be held from October 11 to 25, 2011 in San Luis, city of Argentina.
It is vital to mention here that the South African line-up was outclassed by India in the semi-final contest. On the other side the Pakistani team took Australians down by a half goal and along with India confirmed their spots in the Argentina-based finals.
South Africa will face Australia in the 3rd-4th place play-off game of the Asian-Australia-African Polo Championship at the Royal Selangor Grounds on June 24, 2011.
It is worth mentioning here that the Asian-Australian-African Polo Championship also doles out as FIP Zone-D qualifiers for the final round, thus the winner of the play-off game will also get a spot in the FIH World Championship Finals.
The Australian team did not come out from the shock in the head of a half-goal defeat from Pakistan in the semi-final. They rendered outstanding performance throughout the first half and led the game by three notches. However, they failed to maintain their
game-level and missed the final’s berth by a half goal.
Glen Gilmore, the coach of the Australian polo team, is evaluating their performance against Pakistan and searching reasons of the failures. It was not anyone else than Matt Grimes, who suddenly buckled and slowed down, he added. However, the coach assured
that they would have to deliver their best and win the final round berth.
Coach of the South African team, Clive Peddle, talking to the media said that they were quite optimistic to get a spot in the Argentina-based finals. He said, “We are confident the team is good enough to play in the Finals in Argentina. South Africa played
some really good polo at times but their inexperience let them down at the crucial stage during the tournament.”
In a quite assured state of mind, he further stated that the players would have to avail all the opportunities if they want to win a game against Australia. At the same time, the trainer expressed his anticipations saying that they succeed in doing so. While
reviewing his previous performances, he informed that they missed 21 chances, which is not a positive sign. They discussed all the previous games in details in order to overcome their weak areas, he added.
In quite an excited way, he said that the games between Australia and South Africa were always nail-biting matches, adding that match will be interesting and competitive, no matter what the results will be at the end.
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