BEIJING, Aug 16: World number one The Netherlands became the first team to book a place in the semi-finals of Olympic women’s field hockey with a 2-1 win over Australia here today.

Penalty corner specialist Maartje Paumen struck once in each half to seal the Dutch victory after Sarah Young had given the hockeyroos the lead in the 17th minute.

The Netherlands, determined to make amends for losing to Germany in the Athens Games final four years ago, have won all their four pool a matches so far and play Spain in their last league match on Monday.

Three-time Olympic champions Australia, who are looking to bounce back after being relegated to fifth place in Athens, must beat hosts China on Monday to take the other semi-final spot from the pool.

The narrow defeat ended Australia’s unbeaten run in the 12-nation competition and kept them on nine points.

The United States, meanwhile, scored their first win in the tournament with a stunning 4-1 victory over New Zealand in pool B that incredibly kept their semi-final hopes alive.

The American girls, ranked 11th in the world, joined Argentina in second place with five points each behind Germany’s nine and have a game in hand against Britain on Monday.
Germany, the reigning Olympic champions, take on Argentina in their fourth match later today.
New Zealand, ranked three places above the United States at number eight, struggled after Keli Smith put the Americans ahead in the first minute and Angela Loy made it 2-0 in the 12th.

Joanne Galletly reduced the margin for New Zealand two minutes into the second half, but Smith and Kayla Bashore pumped in two more goals for the Americans to seal a facile win.

“We have come a long way in the last three to four years,” said Smith. “We had confidence coming into the tournament that we could compete with any team when we brought our a game to the pitch.

“We took it one goal at a time in this game and this is exactly what we plan to do against Britain.”

The US drew with Champions Trophy winners Argentina and highly-rated Japan in previous matches, losing only to Germany. (AGENCIES)