Hockey: NZ drop chance to nail their spot

New Zealand lost a game they believe they should have won yesterday to secure their Olympic Games hockey spot in Athens.

They were beaten 2-0 by India which threw their pool B wide open in the qualifying tournament in Madrid.

New Zealand played Pakistan early today in their final pool game. Going into the game, world No 5 Pakistan headed the pool on 10 points, with India and New Zealand on seven, but India had marginally the better goal difference.

"I was quiet happy with our performance but disappointed with the result," coach Kevin Towns said of their game against India.

He said New Zealand dominated long periods, but failed to convert their chances.

India's opening goal came in the second minute from Arjun Halappa, but their second three minutes from the end by Deepak Thakur from a counter-attack killed off New Zealand's chances and ensured their first loss of the tournament.


"We played most of the second half in their half and we missed six penalty corners," Towns said.

The usually deadly Hayden Shaw could get only one shot away from the six penalty corners and that was saved by goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan.

"Our attack on the penalty corners was poor. The ball came out too slowly and there was precision missing in our corner execution," Towns said.

Indian coach Rajinder Singh said: "It was a tough game for both teams. Our forwards went all out, but they were denied space by New Zealand."

New Zealand captain Simon Towns said his team were "physically exhausted" at the end of the match.

"But everyone trained very hard through this past summer at home and we should be okay for the last pool match and for the important matches after that."

If New Zealand do not make the top two in the pool they will be facing crossover playoff games to decide who gets to Athens. The New Zealanders must finish in the top seven in the 12-team tournament to go to the Olympics.

In other pool games yesterday, Pakistan were surprisingly held to a scoreless draw by Malaysia and Belgium drew 2-2 with Canada.

* The Black Sticks play the first of three warm-up games before their Olympic qualifying tournament when they face world No 10 United States at Lloyd Elsmore Park this afternoon.

They then face world No 8 Spain on Saturday and world No 6 Korea on Monday.

Coach Ian Rutledge said the quality of performance by his ninth-ranked side will be of greater interest to him than the results as he fine- tunes the team for next week's tournament at the same venue.

"I would hate to win these three games then lose the tournament," he added.

All three are rated as friendly internationals.

Today's game starts at 4.30pm.

- NZPA