Hockey: Black Sticks struggling

A 1-3 loss to China today has left New Zealand struggling at the bottom of the Champion's Trophy women's hockey tournament being held at Nottingham England.

New Zealand who had beaten China 3-2 to take third placing in a four-nations tournament in the Netherlands last week, were unable to contain the same opponents today.

They trailed by a goal at halftime after China's skipper Fu Baorong deflected the ball into the goal from close range in the 10th minute.

New Zealand had a bright start to the second half but were unable to convert an early penalty corner and then missed a couple of half chances from the field.

China exposed New Zealand's lack of defensive composure under pressure to extend their lead in the 50th minute when Song Qingling turned her marker and slammed home a powerful reverse stick shot.

Fu claimed her second of the match 11 minutes from the end of the game.

Striker Charlotte Harrison finished off a goalmouth scramble to grab a consolation goal for New Zealand with two minutes to go.

New Zealand lost their opening match 1-3 to the Dutch yesterday.

Black Sticks coach, Mark Hager said his team were outplayed by the world's No 3 ranked team.

But his team had also failed to take advantage of their chances to score and equalise the result.

In other second round matches, Argentina and Germany drew 2-2 and the Dutch beat England 3-0.

Tomorrow is a rest day for the Champions Trophy tournament, but the New Zealand men's team will have their first outing at the same venue against Germany in their opening match of a four-nations tournament.

New Zealand will play Argentina nest in the Champions Trophy on Wednesday morning.

- NZPA