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The Netherlands look on course for a third consecutive title after another win at the women's Rabo Hockey Champions Trophy in Amsterdam today.
After the completion of three of the five round matches, the Dutch sit on top of the table with seven points after a victory over New Zealand in today's late match, with China and Germany just a point further back.
Netherlands continued their unbeaten run with a dominant performance over a New Zealand side that was outmatched but not broken.
After a goalless first 15 minutes, the home team struck twice in quick succession to open a comfortable lead before late goals secured a big win.
Germany's form also continues to impress. A win over China on the opening day was complemented by today's dispatch of Argentina to move the Olympic champions in a position of strength.
Germany and Argentina traded goals in the opening half and it looked likely that they would head to the break at 1-1 before Fanny Rinne produced a great piece of play to eliminate a pair of Argentine defenders in midfield before firing a brilliant penetrating pass to Janine Beerman inside the circle for a well-taken conversion.
Another Germany goal just after half time ended Argentina's chances of victory. Despite another second half effort similar to the one they produced against China on Sunday, Argentina again couldn't find the net and suffered another two-goal defeat.
Australia again let slip great scoring opportunities in their match against China, including four penalty corners in the final two minutes that failed to produce the goal that would have salvaged a point.
The first two of these penalty corners were identical and hit into exactly same spot on China goalkeeper's Zhang Mi Yeng's pads, with the other two missing the target altogether. The last was a great chance, with the ball falling invitingly only for the shot to be smashed into the side of the goal from the left.
China's improvement in front of goal in this tournament compared with the last two years is dramatic. They have found a vein of goal scoring form and, with seven goals so far in Amsterdam, they have notched almost as many after three matches as they did in their entire 2004 and 2005 campaigns.
Ma Yi Bo's goal in the fourth minute against Australia was the 750th in tournament history and came in the 223rd Champions Trophy match. Another soon after gave China a two-goal lead inside the opening 10 minutes and as it eventuated, it was enough to give them victory.
With the exception of the 2002 Champions Trophy in Macau, which is notable for being the lowest scoring and most evenly-contested tournament since classification matches were introduced in 1993, at least three wins have been necessary for teams to qualify for the gold medal match.
With the current standings, that statistic rules Australia and New Zealand out of contention, with Argentina on the brink of elimination.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) is another rest day before the tournament resumes on Thursday with the fourth round of matches. On Thursday, New Zealand will play Germany at 14:00, followed by Australia and Argentina at 16:30. The late match is between Netherlands and China at 19:30.
