Beijing, August 17
Defending champion Australia and runners-up Holland played out a 2-2 draw and both teams with 10 points each stormed into the semifinals of the Olympic Hockey tournament here this evening thus ending whatever hopes Pakistan might have entertained of making the last four grade from Pool B.
In pool A, world champion Germany pipped Spain 1-0 to throw it open, Spain have nine points, Germany have eight and Korea and New Zealand are on seven points each. All the teams have to play one more match each.
The all-important goal for Germany was scored by Moritz Fuerste in the 34th minute.
In pool B, Australia will play Britain and Holland face Pakistan in their last league encounters but the results will have no bearing on this pool’s semifinal standings.
In a fast-paced match, both teams failed to score till the 55th minute and it was the last 15 minutes which saw the game come alive.
Holland took the lead through their penalty corner expert Taeke Taekema in the 55th minute but in a space of six minutes Australia not only equalised but took the lead also.
Eddie Ockenden hit home to draw parity in the 58th minute and in the 61st minute Luke Doerner converted a penalty corner to give his side the lead. However, Holland drew parity in injury time through Taekema who converted a penalty corner for his second goal.
In other matches, a tentative Pakistan survived some anxious moments before overcoming South Africa 3-1 to record their second win while New Zealand recovered from a 0-2 deficit to hold China to a 2-2 draw.
In the morning session, trailing 0-1 till the 46th minute, Asian champion South Korea staged a fine rally to overpower Belgium 3-1 and kept themselves in the reckoning for a semifinal berth.
In a pool ‘B’ match, a equaliser in the dying moments enabled Britain survive a scare as they drew 1-1 with lowly Canada.
Desperately needing a win, after having lost two of the three matches they have played so far, Pakistan swung into attack right from the start and took the lead in the ninth minute through Mohd Javed who deflected a free hit into the goal (1-0).
The lead lasted just 22 minutes before Austin Smith equalised for the African champions and the two teams went into the break at 1-1.
However, the green shirts dominated the second session in which they scored two more goals through Shakeel Abbasi and Mohd Saqlain.
Shakeel’s goal came in the 44th minute when he converted a stroke which was awarded by the umpire when a defender used his body to block a goal bound shot.
Ten minutes before the final whistle, Saqlain scored the third goal of the match which was marred by two yellow cards and an injury to Pakistan player Waqas Akbar who was hit on the head in an off the ball incident.
Pakistan with six points from four matches are out of contention. — UNI