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Song lifts South Korea; Pakistan held

South Korean striker Song Seung-Tae scored a hat-trick to sink England 3-2 in the opening match of the 21st FIH Champions Trophy men's field hockey tournament today.

In the other match of the day, Pakistan were held 1-1 by Spain.

Song gave the favoured South Korean men a strong start with a goal on three minutes, but England fought back to level through Mark Pearn by half-time.

Song added two more goals in 57th and 63rd minute, before England's penalty-corner expert Calum Giles converted a chance after the final hoot. The penalty-corner, which resulted in a goal after the final siren, was awarded when only seven seconds were remaining in the game.

South Korea dominated play, and had two penalty-corners and 11 shots at the English goal, compared to just one penalty-corner and five attempts at the goal by the Englishmen.

"I'm very happy with my players because they are mostly young,'' said South Korean coach Kim Sang-Ryul. Song got three goals, but our midfielders played very, very well,'' he added.

England captain William Waugh said South Korea deserved to win.
"In a tournament of this quality you don't want to start off with a loss,'' Waugh said. "We fancied our chances against the Koreans, because we had a good record against them in the past.''

A rule change has freed up play, with fewer stoppages when the ball hits a players' foot. The result was a quicker match and continues hockey's efforts to make the sport more attractive, following the abolition of the off-side rule and specialist penalty-corner experts in recent years.

"At times we were confused with the new rules today,'' Kim said. "But we'll get better.''

Waugh said the rule changes had the desired effect.
"Judging by the way I'm feeling now, it probably led to a more flowing game,'' Waugh said. "It's probably not a bad thing. It just takes a bit of time for the players to get used to.''

In the second match of the day, both Pakistan and Spain matched each other, and the scoreline is perhaps the right indication of the trend of play. Most of the match was played in midfield, as the ball was passed backwards and forward amongst the highly talented Spaniards and Pakistanis, who wished to take no chances, though the Spaniards were relentless in their attacking.

A first goal by the Mohammad Sarwar of Pakistan was eventually neutralised by Spain, when they got the first of their two penalty-strokes of the match. Antonio Iglesias scored.

In the dying minutes of the game, Spain had the opportunity to take the match, but Aglesias, who had scored from the earlier penalty-stroke, pushed into the lower, left upright from the spot.

Both the teams were goalless at the breather. A look at the match statistics show that Spain had a slight edge over Pakistan with four penalty-corners and 12 shots at goal, compared to none and six by Pakistan.

In the first match of the seventh FIH Women's Champions Trophy, Holland defeated Argentina 3-0.

Holland led 3-0 at half-time. Carole Thate scored two goals, while Fleur van de Kieft scored the third. Both teams had four penalty-corners, but Holland had the edge with 17 shots at the goal, compared to just nine by Argentina.

The last match of the programme, a night match, was the highlight of the first day of the tournament, with the biggest crowd and the largest amount of supporter enthusiasm. Australia defeated arch rival New Zealand 5-1. At the half-time Australia led 1-0.

The match was extremely fast paced game racing from one end of the field to the other. One of the biggest features of the first half was Ric Charlesworth's constant rotating of his Aussie team, whereas the Kiwis made substantially fewer rotations.

Clever, tricky passes gave Australia an added advantage on the field, while New Zealand's speed in Moira Senior (playing her 50th game) played a major role in attacking and defence. She scored her team's the only goal.

For Australia, Katrina Powell scored two goals and Claire Mitchell-Taverner, Nikki Mott, Michelle Andrews scored one each.

This is the first time a joint Champions Trophy is being held in the southern hemisphere. The FIH Champions Trophy is the third highest ranked event on the international hockey calendar, behind the Olympic Games and the World Cup.

The women's Champions Trophy is held every two years, in the non-Olympic Games and World Cup years, ensuring a world-class event is held each year.

The men's Champions Trophy is conducted annually and for 1999 it is the major men's event.

The top six men's and women's teams play a round-robin league, with the top two sides in each progressing to the finals.