Hockey gold for youth team

THE junior men's hockey team grabbed a dramatic gold at Australia's final competition of the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore.

It capped a successful day for the Australian squad, as three gold and one silver medal were added to the medal tally, which ended at 32 medals, eight gold, 15 silver and nine bronze.

In the hockey gold medal contest Australia defeated Pakistan 2-1 with the winning goal, a penalty stroke by Luke Noblett coming only three minutes before full time and kept the team undefeated through the tournament.

Pakistan took the lead after only ten minutes of the first half and held it until midway through the second when Dylan Wotherspoon scored from open play.

Noblet's goal triggered wild scenes both on the pitch and in the stands, where many of the Australian athletes and coaches from other sports were cheering the team on.

"We came here for the gold and it feels great," Australian captain Daniel Beale said.

"This is what we dreamed of, what we play hockey for, so for it to come true - words can not describe it."

Earlier in the day middleweight boxer Damien Hooper and women's K1 slalom canoeist Jessica Fox were the gold medallist for Australia while lightweight Brett Mather secured silver in the boxing ring.

Hooper, who is heading to the Commonwealth Games in October, used defence and aggressive counter punching to defeat Colombia's Juan Carlos Carrillo.

The key to the fight was a dominant second round when Hooper scored three quick points and forced his opponent to take a standing eight count at the end of the round.

The ACT-based boxer then ran away with the third round to score a 12-4 victory and the gold medal.

Mather's silver came in the 60kg division after a 13-4 loss to Lithuania's Evaldas Petrauskas.

Sixteen-year-old Fox led from start to finish in the women's K1 canoe slalom event, in a time of one minute, 33.64 seconds, easily defeating her rivals to snare the gold.