MUSCAT: World champions Germany thrashed their rivals Canada 9-0 in the opener of FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier hosted in Muscat and began on Monday at the state-of-the-art hockey stadium in Al Amerat city. In the eight teams qualifying event, New Zealand snatched a 3-1 win against Chile in another Pool A match.
In the first match of the Hockey Olympic Qualifier event, it was a one-sided match as the world champions, coached by Andre Henning, dominated the proceedings against Canada.
Peillat Gonzalo opened the scoring and took his team in the lead early in the second minute from a penalty corner. Few minutes later, Ruhr Christopher doubled the lead from a penalty corner to make it at 2-0. Hartkopf Raphael slammed a field goal twice within four minutes as he scored in the 12th and 16th minutes. Germany led 3-0 after the first quarter.
The German players continued the goalscoring spree as Christopher struck in the 34th minute before and Gonzalo struck two minutes later to make it 6-0. Then, Miltkau Marco registered a brilliant field goal to make it 7-0 before Wellen Niklas netted another field goal. Grambusch Tom netted the concluding goal in the 58th minute as Germany drubbed Canada with a 9-0 win. During all the quarters of the match, Canada players could not get a chance to penetrate the strong defence of the opponents as they failed to register a single goal in the game.
With the big win, Germany are on top of the Pool A with three points while New Zealand are second with the same credit but with less goal difference.
New Zealand claim win
New Zealand claimed three crucial points from their first match in Pool A after defeating Chile 3-1 in a tough game.
Smith Jake netted a brace with a field goal in the 6th minute and seven minutes later Boyde Scott doubled the lead with another field goal.
The first quarter ended at 2-0 while in the following both teams failed to register any goals until Lane Sam increased the lead to 3-0 in the third quarter with a field goal. The only goal for Chile was scored by Becerra Franco in the fourth quarter.
A total of 12 matches will be played at the newly built stadium until January 21 and it will be followed by FIH Hockey5s World Cup from January 24 to 31. Pool A comprises Great Britain, Malaysia, Pakistan and China while Pool B features Germany, New Zealand, Canada and Chile teams. The playing format in the Hockey Olympic Qualifier will be based on a league system from one round as the first and second ranked teams in each pool will advance to the semifinals and the top three teams will secure tickets to Olympic Games.
The third and fourth ranked teams in the pool play classification matches (5th to 8th positions). The group matches started on Monday and will run until Thursday. On Saturday, the semifinal and classification matches will take place while on the following day, the final and the bronze-medal match to decide the three top winners will be staged.
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