Youth Games: Bronze for hockey girls

The New Zealand girls hockey team celebrate after Michaela Curtis scored a golden goal. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand junior girls' hockey team have bagged a golden goal that brought a bronze medal reward at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

Opponents Korea scored with a minute remaining in normal time to claw back a 4-1 deficit and send the match into extra time at the Seng Kang Hockey Stadium this morning (NZT).

After being forced to defend for the last 20 minutes of regular time, New Zealand suddenly surged on to attack at the start of sudden death with Rhiannon Dennison making ground to the baseline after a quickly taken free hit. She found forward Michaela Curtis in space and the Levin striker hammered home for the golden goal victory 5-4.

It was New Zealand's fifth medal, with a certain sixth medal awaiting in tomorrow's boxing final when Joseph Parker competes for gold in the super heavyweight class.

It took a Dennison drag flick from a penalty corner after 15 minutes to awaken New Zealanders from a slumber following an early Korean strike, as the New Zealanders began to back their skill and speed against the power and physicality of their opponents.

If Dennison's penalty corner provided the spark, then her back-hand rocket from just inside the circle after a solo run two minutes later brought an eruption. It could fairly lay claim as the goal of the tournament for the 17 year old who was the leading goal scorer at the event.

Wellington's Kate McCaw, who enjoyed her best game on the biggest stage, bagged a superb goal after 25 minutes and when Dennison struck again 12 minutes into the second half, a demoralised Korean side looked out of things at 4-1.

But the New Zealanders lapsed into their shell and ran out of gas as the Koreans fought back, opting for some powerful blasts into the goal region. While goalkeeper Sarah Matthews stymied several attacks, Korea had the game back at 4-3 before captain Jina Kang was awarded the tying goal 1min 33sec from the finish following a goal mount melee.

``It's the best moment of my life,'' said a delighted Dennison.

``I was never content at 4-1 up. I thought we needed a couple more to be safe. Like the first day when we played them, they came back. We had to keep going.''

Later the Netherlands took three minutes of golden goal extra period to dispose of favourites Argentina 2-1 in the gold medal match.

Earlier in the day Cambridge rider Jake Lambert finished 21st in the showjumping competition from 30 competitors.

His chance to get a second medal, following his silver in the team event where he twice jumped clear, was lost in the first round when his rein got caught under a stirrup after his horse got spooked, although his outstanding horsemanship kept the loss to three rails down.

Lambert eased his six year old mount Le Lucky over the tougher course today, dropping the rail in an otherwise faultless display where Uruguay's Marcelo Chirico took out the gold medal in a jump off against Colombia's Mario Gamboa.

Sailors Jack Collinson and Elise Beavis managed three races all in light airs off the National Sailing Centre, finishing just above mid pack in all three races of the Byte II class.

With 11 of the 15 fleet races completed in the allowable time, it means only one race can be dropped. That will see Beavis in 11th overall and Collinson 12th going into the medal race tomorrow.

The Table tennis pairing of Aucklanders Julia Wu and Kevin Wu lost all three team matches against Croatia, Pan America and Chinese Taipei although they pushed all three opponents.

Southland's Jenna McKenzie ends a long wait to compete against 25 shooters in the 10m air rifle competition at the remarkable Singapore Sports School.

There's considerable attention in the ring where Waitakere City's Jospeh Parker, the world No 3 ranked junior, takes on world No 2 Tony Yoka of France in the gold medal match in the super heavyweight class to bring the curtain down on New Zealand's involvement in the first Youth Olympic Games.

Results, day 10:

Hockey, junior girls' bronze medal match: New Zealand 5 (Rhiannon Dennison 3, Kate McCaw, Michela Curtis) bt Korea 4 (Jihee Heo, Jina Kang 2, So Ri Nam) Halftime: 3-1.

Equestrian, show jumping: Marcelo Chirico (URU)Links Hot Gossip, 0 faults, 1; Mario Gamboa (COL) LH Titan, 0 faults, 2 (in jump-off); Dalma Palhas (KSA) Flash Top Hat, 4 faults, 3 (in 5 way jump-off). Also: Jake Lambert (NZL) Le Lucky, 16 faults, 21.

Table tennis teams: New Zealand 0 Croatia 3 (Julia Wu lost to Matega Jeger 8-11 5-11 3-11, Kevin Wu lost to Luka Fuces 6-11 12-10 11-13 11-5; Wu and Wu lost to Jeger-Fuces 7-11 5-11 11-9 5-11)

New Zealand 0 Pan America 3 (Julia Wu lost to Carelyn Cordero 3-11 2-11 5-11; Kevin Wu lost to Pablo Saragovi 5-11 11-9 6-11 11-13; Wu-Wu lost to Cordero-Saragovi 11-6 4-11 5-11 2-11)

New Zealand 0 Chinese Taipei 3 (Julia Wu lost to Hsin Huang 4-11 3-11 3-11, Kevin Wu lost to Tzu-Hsiang Hung 4-11 6-11 6-11, Wu-Wu lost to Huang-Hung 7-11 8-11 6-11)

Sailing, Byte II class, boys: Jack Collinson race 9, 18th; race 10, 16th, race 11, 7th. Girls: Elise Beavis race 9, 15th; race 10, 11th; race 11, 15th.

Points after 11 races, boys: Ian Barrows (ISV) 41q, Florian Haufe (GER) 53, Kaarle Tapper (FIN) 55. Also: Collinson 100, 13.

Girls: Lara Vadlau (AUT) 23, Constance Stolz (GER) 36, Daphne van der Vaart (NED) 39. Also: Beavis 92, 12.

- NZPA