By FIH
China 2, South Africa 5
South Africa won the battle of the unbeatens in the first major meeting of this Olympic Qualifier, topping China in a solid 5-2 victory. The win puts South Africa and Japan atop of the standings, each with three wins in the three games. The two teams will meet when the men’s tournament resumes on Wednesday.
The teams started tentatively, but soon enough South Africa found its scoring touch thanks to the fancy flicking of Justin Reid-Ross who fired the 1-0 goal into the upper left corner to break the scoring silence. A defensive lapse by China led to the 2-0 goal for South Africa when they found themselves on a breakaway. The initial shot was stopped, but Ian Haley put in the second effort.
Lloyd Norris Jones gave South Africa a convincing 3-0 lead before the break with a picture-perfect diving deflection, China had to be disappointed with the first half performance which saw a few miscues on key opportunities and only a handful of meaningful scoring chances.
Jonathan Robinson was the man of the second half for South Africa. He scored two goals in a five-minute span to give the South Africans ample breathing room. Robinson’s first marker lifted the lead to 4-0 and his second was a answer to China’s Yubo Na’s goal at the other end and was key to keeping the momentum on the South African side.
China had a few chances late in the half, but the four-goal difference was simply too much to overcome with the clock ticking as top-seeded South Africa won its first major test of the event against third-seeded China.
South Africa has another major test on Wednesday when they take on unbeaten Japan. It will be a meeting of the two top seeds in one of the most highly-anticipated games of the round robin. China will look to regroup against the Czech Republic on Wednesday before they face Japan on Friday.
Brazil 0, Japan 11
Japan stayed undefeated at the Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament after a convincing 11-0 victory against Brazil. Japan is 3-0 in three games, but the hosts and second-seeded team at this event still have their two biggest games to play in the last two days of the round robin with South Africa and China coming up.
Japan wasted no time getting started, opening about 20 seconds into action on its first trip down field. The 1-0 lead stood for about seven minutes until Japan put in three goals in less than two minutes, leaving the Brazilians stunned by the rapid fire onslaught. Hiroki Sakamoto scored once in the flurry and Kenta Tanaka struck twice.
From there, Japan continued to roll, putting in two more penalty corner goals to close the first half with a 6-‘ lead. The second half was much of the same as Brazil could not keep pace with the quicker, more skilled Japan side. Japan’s scoring slowed a bit in the half, but the still added five goals in the half to bring the final to 11-0.
Kenta Tanaka paced all scorers with three goals in the win while Katsuyoshi Nagasawa and Hiroki Sakamoto scored two goals each.
Austria 2, Czech Republic 1
Austria earned its first win at the Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament after hanging on for a 2-1 win against the Czech Republic. Michael Korper was the difference for the Austrians, scoring both goals in the victory.
The loss leaves the Czechs still looking for their first win of the event as they are winless in their first three outings with China and Brazil left to meet in the round robin phase.
The two teams are the most physical among the field and in the first half they lived up to expectations as the intensity was high and the tempers were right on the edge. Korper struck midway through the half with a well-executed penalty corner to give the Austrians the early lead. But the Czechs quickly responded with a field goal when Ondrej Vudmaska deflected a shot into the net.
Korper’s easy conversion on a penalty stroke restored the Austrian lead. Little did either team know that the 2-1 advantage would last through the end of the game as the intensity and scoring chances visibly ebbed in a tepid second half.
Austria will look to continue its winning ways against last-seeded Brazil on Wednesday. The Czechs have China next on the agenda.
