Germany

Anke Kuhn has scored the only goal in the 45th minute to lead Germany to a 1-0 win over defending champion Australia in the opening round of the women's field hockey Champions Trophy.

The Australians were hoping to reverse a recent slide that included a fifth-place finish in the Athens Olympics, but Kuhn found the back of the net after a corner play, beating goalkeeper Toni Cronk in a closely fought match.

"I hope we improve tomorrow. Today we only had two shots on goal," Australia coach David Bell said. "I'm not very satisfied."

Earlier, Saskia Fuchs and Kim Lammers each scored to help the Netherlands beat China 2-0 and spoil the debut of China coach Jin Chango.

Fuchs, playing in her first international match, scored in the 52nd minute and Lammers added another seven minutes later as a revamped Dutch team easily handled China, the tournament's runner-up last year.

Netherlands coach Marc Lammers fielded as many as five new players and used three defenders in an offensive-minded scheme that tested the Chinese early.

Fuchs scored by redirecting a shot by teammate Miek Van Geenhuizen that surprised goalkeeper Huang Xuejiao.

Minutes later, Kim Lammers grabbed a rebound and sent a hard shot into the goal off a corner play.

"We have a young team, but I liked our play in the second half where we showed confidence and played well as a team," Marc Lammers said.

The Dutch face Australia on Sunday, while China meets New Zealand and Germany takes on host Argentina. Later Saturday, Argentina was playing New Zealand.

The competition features the world's top six teams.

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