The Sahara Hockey Champions Trophy final in Chennai will be a repeat of the Athens Olympic decider between Australia and the Netherlands after the Dutch scraped past India to secure a berth with victory in their last preliminary round match.

The Dutch entered the match knowing that a victory against India would give them enough points to qualify for the final, however they were met by a rejuvenated opponent that played with more spirit and enthusiasm than in their previous two matches.

It took until the 70th minute for the Netherlands to ensure their finals spot, with Taeke Taekema taking advantage of a raft of penalty corner chances for his team to secure the vital three points with a 2-1 win.

Indian goal keeper Bharat Chetri’s brilliant performance was not quite enough, although for 69 minutes it appeared he would emerge the hero after repelling countless Netherlands chances through the match

A draw between India and the Netherlands would have given Spain a second finals berth in succession, but the reigning champions will not get a chance to defend their title after falling just short of the magic 10 points needed to qualify for the top two.

Spain played their part in the day’s opening match to keep the competition interesting, edging Germany in another one-goal thriller. After looking in control of the result in the second half, Spain allowed Germany to storm back into the contest but held on to put pressure on the Netherlands in the following match.

Germany will have an opportunity to exact some quick revenge on Spain when the teams meet in Sunday’s bronze medal playoff. India’s loss meant the Germans were able to hold on to fourth spot and avoid the relegation battle that awaits the home team and Pakistan.

The two Asian rivals will play for fifth position on Sunday, meaning that one will be missing when the next edition of the elite six-nation event starts in Terrassa in July 2006. Argentina will replace the loser by virtue of their Champions Challenge win earlier this year.

In the day’s other match, Australia dropped their first points of the tournament after a draw with Pakistan. With the clash irrelevant to the make-up of the playoffs, the match unsurprisingly lacked some of the sparkle of the other two contests earlier in the day.

Australia was out of sync early, but battled their way into the lead midway through the second half before Pakistan levelled to earn just their second point of the tournament.