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Sunday November 8, 2009

Kiwis and Chinese chalk up contrasting wins

KUALA LUMPUR: Favourites New Zealand and China got off to winning starts, albeit in contrasting fashions, in the World Cup qualifiers at the ILT Hockey Turf in Invercargill, New Zealand, yesterday.

The Kiwis, ranked eighth in the world, beat Wales 6-2 after taking a 3-0 first-half lead.

Wilson Nicholas: Scored first for New Zealand.

China, however, had to come back from an early setback to carve out a 2-1 win over Scotland in the opening match of the tournament.

The Chinese, who are the 2006 Doha Asian Games silver medallists and ranked 13th in the world, had to rely on two second-half goals to collect full points.

Scotland, however, began well, clinching a field goal in the fourth minute through Dick Stephen.

But China levelled the score in the 45th minute through a penalty corner attempt by Liu Yixian.

Na Yobo, one of the more experienced players in the Chinese team, then turned hero for China when he scored a field goal in the 60th minute to ensure of a winning start for his team.

While China huffed and puffed, the Kiwis were in cruise mode against Wales.

Wilson Nicholas started the rout in the 17th minute with a field goal before Andrew Hatward scored twice in the 33rd and 35th minutes off penalty corner set-piece moves.

The Welsh tried to fight back in the early part of the second-half when Gay Richards scored two penalty corner goals in the 37th and 47th minutes to reduce the deficit.

But Nicholas put an end to their hopes when he netted in the 60th minute for his second goal of the match and skipper Philip Burrow added the fifth in the 63rd minute.

Hayward then claimed his hat-trick when he slotted in the last goal, also from the penalty corner, two minutes later.

The Kiwis will play Scotland in their second match today while China will take on Austria.

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