Dutch forward Kim Lammers scored twice on her Olympic debut as the Netherlands took its first step toward retaining the Olympic women’s hockey gold, beating newcomers Belgium 3-0.
Lammers is the most-capped Dutch player, having played her first international game in 2002, but she was not chosen for the Athens 2004 team and a knee injury forced her to miss the Beijing Olympics.
She scored near the end of the first half and again with a near-post finish in the 42nd minute. Caia van Maasakker sealed the Dutch win late in the second half, making the most of a penalty corner to smash the ball into the net.
Eva de Goede, who set up Lammers’ first goal, marked her 100th appearance for the Netherlands.
The 17-year-old Belgian goalkeeper Aisling D’Hooghe put up a strong defence against a constant barrage of attacks from a Dutch team that controlled the game from the start and had 25 opportunities on goal. The Belgium team had only two chances, one from a penalty corner and another from open play.
Earlier, Cathryn Finlayson scored in the third minute to give New Zealand a 1-0 victory over old rival Australia.
Australia are three-time Olympic champions, but its last gold medal performance was at home during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. New Zealand, meanwhile, is improving after failing to win a single match at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Results: Group A: Netherlands: 3 (Kim Lammers 33rd, 42nd, Caia van Maasakker 60th) bt Belgium: 0; China: 4 (Ma Yibo 26th, 67th, Zhao Yudiao 51st, Li Hongxia 54th) bt Korea: 0.
Group B: New Zealand: 1 (Cathryn Finlayson 19th) bt Australia: 0.
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