Asian Women on Song

RESULTS: WOMEN Day 1: Pool A: Australia 5 (Shelly Liddelow 26, 50, Nicole Hudson 47, Sarah Young 56, Casey Eastham 65) South Korea 4 (Kim Mi-Seon 19, Kim Da-Rae 28, Gim Sung-Hee 33, Park Mi-Hyun 34) H-t: 1-4.
China 3 (Fu Baorong 17, Li Hongxia 31, Gao Lihua 37) Spain 0 H-t: 2-0.
Pool B: Japan 2 (Sakae Morimoto 12, Toshie Tsukui 17) New Zealand 1 (Jaimee Claxton 25) H-t: 2-1. Argentina 2, United States 2.

BEIJING, Aug 10, 2008 (AFP) - Asian women overcame gloomy weather and rain to make a bright start in the Olympic field hockey as hosts China and Japan recorded opening day wins on Sunday.
China, gold medallists at the Asian Games in Qatar two years ago, blanked Spain 3-0 in a pool A match watched by some 5,000 home fans at the Beijing Hockey Centre.
Japan, who won the Asian Games silver behind China, warded off a spirited challenge from New Zealand before winning 2-1 in pool B.
Li Hongxia, who scored the second goal to give China a 2-0 lead at half-time, said she was inspired to see the big crowd in the stands.
“There was a bit of pressure since this was our first match, but I was motivated when I saw so many people had come to watch the match,” she said.
“I am sure the fans will continue to support us in the rest of the competition. We will try not to disappoint them.” China had two goals disallowed in the opening quarter, but took the lead in the 17th minute when Fu Baorong scored with a reverse flick from the left.
A powerful reverse hit by Li a minute before half-time make it 2-0 before Gao Lihua sealed Spain’s defeat soon after the break by deflecting in a pass from the left.
Spain, who had considered withdrawing from the competition after doping allegations were levelled against two of its players at the Olympic qualifiers in Azerbaijan in April, had no answer to the Chinese raids.
“These girls are very fast and it was hard for our defence to adjust to them,” said Spain’s Maria Rosa.
“They controlled the tempo of the game after scoring those two goals and the support from the crowd was also helping them.” The Spanish team’s participation in Beijing was confirmed last Friday, just one day before the opening ceremony, when Azerbaijan’s protest was thrown out by the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).
Azerbaijan went to the CAS to protest at the decision of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) to allow Spain to take part in the Games despite alleged doping violations against two players.
Azerbaijan argued that two Spanish girls, Gloria Comerma and an unnamed player, had failed dope tests during the Olympic qualifying tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The FIH, while accepting that Comerma committed an anti-doping rule violation, declined to impose sanctions against her since “there was no fault or negligence on her part.” The case against the other player was dropped.
Meanwhile, Japan led 2-0 by the 17th minute through goals by Sakae Morimoto and Toshi Tsukui before Jaimee Claxton pulled one back for New Zealand in the 25th minute.
“I feel happy because it is very comforting to win the first game,” said Japanese midfielder Rika Komazawa. “We combined very well today.”