Germany men, women reach semis at Indoor Hockey World Cup

Vienna, Feb 16 (UNI) Defending World Champion Germany continued their winning march and advanced to the semi-final stage in both the men's and women's competition at the Samsung Hockey Indoor World Cup here.

Both the German men and women team remained undefeated and have booked their berth in the past with one more day to play in the preliminary phase.

The German men's team nailed Russia 8-2 and, beat Switzerland as well with an identical margin yesterday.

The women's formation from the title holding country registered victories over Czech Republic 8-2 and Ukraine 10-2.

Although host Austria cannot win a medal in the women's competition, the Austrian men still have a chance. The home crowd favorite could have qualified for the semifinal stage, but lost against Spain 6-4 late last night. Austria was leading at half time 3-2.

The result opened up pool B, with Poland, Spain and Austria fighting for two semifinal places.

In the women's competition, Ukraine only needs a draw to proceed to the semi-final. Although the Ukrainian team lost against Germany, a victory against Italy (5-3) put Ukraine in second place.

In other women's action, the Netherlands booked its third straight victory by winning against Canada (4-2). The Dutch team is the co-leader in pool B together with Spain. The Spanish team won twice yesterday -- 3-1 against Belarus and 5-3 against host Austria.

UNI