Olympics: Britain end 56-year itch against Pakistan as hockey favourites cruise

Tuesday, 12 August 2008

BEIJING - Britain secured their first Olympic men's field hockey victory over Pakistan in 56 years on Monday as gold medal contenders Australia and Germany made a smooth start.

Britain's 4-2 success was their first over Pakistan since winning the bronze medal play-off at the Helsinki Games in 1952 and came after two miserable losses of 8-1 and 8-2 against the same rivals in the last two Olympics.

Reigning champions Australia flexed their muscles with a 6-1 rout of Canada in pool B, while World Cup winners Germany survived an early Chinese scare before opening their campaign with a 4-1 win in pool A.

A hat-trick of penalty corners by Hayden Shaw saw New Zealand wipe off an early deficit to upset world number five South Korea 3-1 in pool A.

The British, who led 3-0 at half-time, overcame a two-goal burst by Pakistan in the second session before taking full points in the pool B match at the Olympic Green Hockey Stadium.

Britain never looked back after James Tindall scored in the second minute and went into the break after two more goals by Rob Moore and Ashley Jackson.

Pakistan, who won the last of their three Olympic golds at Los Angeles in 1984, made it 2-3 through Shakeel Abbasi and Muhammad Waqas before their fate was sealed by a Matt Daly goal seven minutes before the end.

British captain Ben Hawes, sent off with a yellow card in the second half, said a semi-final place was still not easy from a pool that included Australia and former champions the Netherlands.

"We are in a tough pool and have to win every game, so I am definitely happy to win this one," he said.

Pakistan coach Naveed Alam blasted his team for missing easy chances.

"I can't be happy when we missed so many goals. It is unacceptable at the start of the tournament. We had seven penalty corners and wasted all of them.

"It makes it difficult for us now, but we will fight all the way."

Des Abbott slammed the second hat-trick of the day as Australia scored thrice in each half against the hapless Canadians, for whom Peter Short hit a consolation goal.

Fergus Kavanagh, Eddie Ockenden and Grant Schubert were the other scorers for Australia, who are looking to defend the maiden Olympic title they won at Athens four years ago.

Hosts China took the lead through Na Yubo in the seventh minute before Germany restored parity ahead of the break through Christopher Zeller.

Florian Keller fashioned Germany's victory with two stunning goals in the space of 11 minutes in the second half before Carlos Nevado completed the tally two minutes before the final whistle.

German captain Timo Wess said he was delighted at the victory.

"I am not surprised we had problems getting into the game at the start," said Wess.

"We have a young team and for many of them it is their first Olympics, so a bit of nervousness was natural. But once we settled down, we just got better and better," he said.