Australia

Australia's breakthrough gold medal at the Athens Olympics has led to the nomination of four players for the International Hockey Federation's World Hockey Player of the Year awards, Hockey Australia said today.

Striker Jamie Dwyer and defender Bevan George have been nominated for the 2004 World Hockey Player of the Year, while Mark Knowles and Rob Hammond are in contention for the junior award.

The nominations were announced during the Champions Trophy tournament in Lahore, Pakistan, which Australia has boycotted because of security concerns.

The quartet's performances in Athens were crucial to the team's march to the gold medal as the Kookaburras broke a 48-year Olympic drought with a 2-1 sudden-death win over the Netherlands in the final.

Dwyer scored the winning goal, while George was named man of the match for his performance in defence.

If Dwyer is successful, he will become the first player, male or female, to have won both the senior and junior awards.

Award winners will be determined by a secret ballot of players at the Champions Trophy, taking into account performances at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Madrid, the Athens Olympics and the Champions Trophy.

The winners will be announced on Thursday in Lahore.

Meanwhile the Australian under-21 men's side has begun its three-match World Cup qualifying series against New Zealand in Wellington with a 9-1 win.

Steven Boyce scored four goals and Russell Ford scored three.

The women's under-21 team needs to win its two remaining matches after being beaten by New Zealand 3-2. Both teams will play their next matches tomorrow.

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