London2012: Great Britain top group in women’s hockey

By Ashley Williams

LONDON (TheSportsNext) August 1, 2012: Great Britain’s women hockey players gifted the injured captain Kate Walsh an emphatic performance on Tuesday as they defeated South Korea by 5-3 by scoring two goals in the last 14 minutes.

The victory has helped Great Britain to top the group with two victories in as many matches after Belgium held Beijing2008 silver medalists China to a goalless draw.

With astounding victories in their first two matches, the British women are looking like hot favorites for the London 2012 Women’s Hockey gold medal.

Team GB did miss their captain Kate Walsh who had broken her jaw in the dying moments of their match against Japan which they eventually won by 4-0.

The English women hockey team’s captain showed great resolve by vowing to return for the TeamGB in the later stages of the tournament.

Great Britain women hockey team’s coach Danny Kerry told reporters yesterday, "The surgeon has said that her jaw has titanium plates in it and is stronger than it was previously so there is no medical risk to her playing”.

Great Britain were looking to win the match by 3-2 but South Koreans came up with huge resilience to tie the game at 3-3 with only 14 minutes of play remaining.

The home crowd, which come in great numbers, started feeling the heat and biting their nails before Georgie Twigg and Chloe Rogers hit final nail in the coffin for Great Britain.

Praising her teammates’ performance, Crista Cullen told reporters, "This team has bucketloads of character and resilience and hopefully this will stand us in good stead”.

Great Britain are now the top team in Group A, leading Netherlands on goal difference while China are trailing at third with three more matches to be played before the tournament enters semi-finals stage.

On the other hand, Group B is looking far more interesting as the title favorites Argentina and Germany both lost to United States and Australia, respectively.

After Tuesday’s matches, New Zealand women are leading the Group B with two victories from as many matches while four out of six teams have three points each.

The United States stunned title favorites Argentina by 1-0 and relived the victorious moments of last year when they had defeated the same opposition in final of the Pan-American Games to qualify for the London2012 Olympic Games.