Britain fall short of champion standards

Opening day was twice cruel to the British. Their teams both lost to sides holding both the Olympic and World Cup titles, the men going down 4-2 to the Netherlands on Saturday, the women 2-1 to Australia yesterday.

They lost to better teams. But the women lost in controversial circumstances and the men did so after wasting a penalty that would have put them 3-2 ahead with three-quarters of their match played.

Britain's women were denied the chance of converting a corner in overtime. One corner led to another and then a third was awarded.

Australia's players protested at the third award. They pointed out that the British goalkeeper Hilary Rose, who had come up to join her colleagues on the edge of the circle, had taken off her helmet. It was not a case for denying Britain a third corner but it allowed the umpires to consult and it was then that the unengaged umpire, Marelize de Klerk of South Africa, apparently told her colleague that Britain had not stopped the ball at the second corner outside the circle as required. The engaged umpire, Ute Conen of Germany, signalled a free-hit to Australia and Britain had lost their last chance of saving the game.

Britain were fortunate to be only 1-0 down to a Nikki Hudson goal at half-time. Australia squandered chances and Rose kept Britain in the game.

It was a different story after the break. Denise Marston-Smith silenced the 15,000 crowd when she equalised at a corner with a brilliantly executed flick. But Australia took only five minutes to regain the lead through Tina Powell after a British mis-trap.

Two teenagers, Kate Walsh and Helen Richardson, had outstanding games for Britain, as did Kath Johnson and Jane Sixsmith.

Calum Giles was the guilty man in Britain's defeat by the Dutch, with a rare failure from the penalty spot at 2-2. Again Britain probably suffered as a result of their opponents protesting. The Dutch delayed the taking of the stroke, erroneously complaining that Giles was not allowed to come off the bench to take the stroke. Giles seemed unperturbed but took the stroke poorly and it was easily saved.

The Dutch women yesterday became the victims of the biggest upset of the tournament when they went down 2-1 to China, who were making their Olympic debut.