OLYMPICS/ flash
Field hockey teams aspire to win big
By Yu Yilei / Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-31 14:25
China seems eager to upset the field hockey elites of the world at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as the women's and men's teams are pushing hard to reap the benefits of home advantage.
During the "Good Luck Beijing" International Hockey Tournament, a test event for the Beijing Games that ended earlier this month, both teams finished second after losing to the Australians in the title matches.
Although both failed to delight the local spectators with a victory, the experience of taking part in the tournament could prove important during next year's Olympics.
Women's side
The event attracted three of the world's top five teams -- Argentina, Australia, China -- ranked second, third and fifth respectively in addition to African champion South Africa. The significance of the tournament was amplified given that three of the four teams were already qualified for the Beijing Games: Argentina, which recently won the Pan American Games, South Africa which qualified as the continental champions and China which won an automatic berth as the host.
China opened the tournament on August 8 with the Argentineans who traveled half the globe and arrived in Beijing two days earlier. It was apparent that the South Americans hadn't recovered from the lengthy flight and its Pan American Games sojourn as they were outplayed by the host under the scorching sun.
The 3-0 victory gave the host team with the upper hand over Argentina, a long-time rival.
"There's little difference between Chinese, Argentine, and Australian teams, and it shouldn't be a surprise no matter who wins the game," Argentina's head coach Minade Gabriel said.
China's head coach, Kim Chang-back, considered China's title match-up against Australia the most important. The Aussies also displayed great form by defeating Argentina 2-0 and South Africa 4-0 in the preliminaries and secured a final showdown with China.
The final just went down as expected and both teams failed to score both in regular time and in extra time and required a penalty stroke competition to reach a decision. The Australian goal-keeper, Rachel Imison, stopped three of the four Chinese penalty strokes, while her teammates scored three out of four penalty strokes, giving the Aussies the victory.
For the host, losing such a close game to Australia, which it never defeated in recent international competitions, provided some relief.
"I am happy with our play," said Kim. "We did good preparatory work in the first six months of this year and we can prove that through the final game."
China's inspiring performance proved it has overcome a slight setback when it slumped to 10th place at the World Cup last year. However, China has displayed signs of recovery ever since the team won a gold medal at the Doha Asian Games in December and the Champions Challenge earlier this year.
However, the relatively weak mental stamina China showed at some key moments turned out to be a problem for the ambitious host. The team missed three shots during the penalty stroke competition in the title game which brought back memories of a similar game where China lost to Germany on penalty strokes in the semis of the 2004 Athens Games.
"It did remind me of the game against Germany," Kim said. "But we still have one year to prepare so that we won't make any similar mistake in the future."
Athens champion Germany qualified for the Beijing Games as it entered the final of EuroHockey Nations Championships alongside the world No 1 and reigning world champion Netherlands. The two are also seen as the medal favorites in the Beijing Games.
Kim and his Chinese players will give their best to fulfill the Olympic dream - the Olympic title is the only championship missing from Kim's coaching career. He has led Chinese teams to incredible successes including the 2002 Champions Trophy, 2002 Busan Asian Games title and a fourth-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics and is considered the most successful foreign coach in China.
"I hope it could be a happy ending," said China's team captain Ma Yibo with a smile.
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