Sticking to its task

Everything to win and nothing to lose.

The Chinese women's field hockey team is embracing its David-vs-Goliath final challenge against top-seed the Netherlands as a golden opportunity to restore pride and appeal to the once glorious program.

Underrated and overlooked, the Chinese squad has put its rejuvenation on full display in Paris after defying long odds to advance into its first Olympic final in 16 years, riding on momentum driven by having one of the sport's legends at its helm.

Coached by Australia's two-time Olympic champion Alyson Annan, Team China put up a gusty fight against European powerhouse Belgium — which stands three places above China in the International Field Hockey world rankings — in Wednesday's semifinal.

China started strong, with Zou Meirong scoring a second-quarter goal. However, the Belgians managed to tie the match at 1-1, thanks to a last-minute equalizer from Emma Puvrez, sending a legion of Belgium fans into frenzy at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium in the western suburbs of Paris.

That's how it stood at the end of regulation time.

After conceding two goals in the nerve-wrecking shootout, Team China kept its cool to score three in a row. Goalkeeper Ye Jiao then rose to the high-stakes occasion, denying the Belgians' next three attempts with heroic saves to secure China an Olympic final berth — it's first at an overseas Games. The last time was at Beijing 2008, where the home team faced off against the mighty Dutch. It will be a case of deja vu, then, when the pair meet again in the French capital.

While the challenge will be monumental against the No 1-ranked Netherlands, the "Snow Lotuses" have an edge this time around, with Annan — former mentor of the Dutch team — now in China's corner.

No matter what step it eventually occupies on the podium, Team China has already turned heads and earned respect for a victorious Olympic campaign in many ways, said Annan of her players.

"We have talked about this a lot since I started. We want to win a medal. We want to be on the podium in Paris. This is why we do this," Annan said of the confidence and belief she's instilled into the team since she took the helm in 2022.

"I hope the message is that dreams do come true, and you have to dream to be able to have that vision. And the girls saw it and went after it, and, now, they've got both feet on the silver and are one step from gold.

" (We have) everything to win and nothing to lose," said Annan, who led the Netherlands to the gold medal at Tokyo 2020.

Entering the Olympic knockout stage as a dark-horse contender, Team China proved its medal credentials by upsetting its coach's native national side, the Hockeyroos, in a solid 3-2 quarterfinal thriller — a bittersweet result for Annan.

"I have mixed feelings," she said following the victory on Monday. "I'd have preferred this to have been the final."

With all of China's other qualified ball-sport teams having already crashed out of the Paris Games, the women's hockey squad has served up a huge morale boost for the whole delegation by at least clinching a silver medal.

After going up against its European rivals with the crowd rooting against it in almost every game, Chinese captain Ou Zixia expects the team's return to the top table to draw more support and exposure back home.

"Hopefully, what we did here will bring more attention to the sport in China, inspiring more girls to pick up a hockey stick and give it a try," Ou told the handful of Chinese journalists in the mixed zone after the semis.

"This means everything for the sport's profile and for everyone on the team. For us, we don't think it as the end of a tough journey. We take it as a new beginning for the sport to be better developed," said the defender, who's represented Team China in 172 international matches across three Olympic Games.

Speaking of the biggest difference that Annan's coaching crew, including her assistant Ric Charlesworth, has brought to the program, Zou, Wednesday's goalscorer, said it's all about self-confidence accumulated by practicing with, and drilling against, the Western powerhouses.

"I think it's kind of an advantage for us to be considered as an underdog, while at the same time we believe more in ourselves and that we are actually way better than people think," said the 23-year-old midfielder who's scored two goals in Paris.

Since Annan took over the Chinese program, the team has spent the past two years traveling extensively to train in Europe and Australia, and play quality opponents in the FIH Pro League. Gradually, it has become more balanced offensively and defensively.

With the Aussie's coaching blended with the traditional discipline and zealous work ethnic of Chinese athletes, Team China had climbed to No 6 in the world rankings prior to the Games, all the way from No 14 when Annan took over.

Now, it seems that the scalps of Australia and Belgium were nothing unexpected, at least for Team China's young aspirants.

"Mentally, we are stronger than ever, and, tactically, we've managed to keep pace with the strong European teams. We just need to hit them when they're off their guard," said Zou.