Gritty India go down to clinical Australia

Ford, Ghodes, Doernor strike for world no 1 side

A gritty India suffered a 0-3 defeat at the hands of world champions Australia in the opening match of the four-nation hockey test event for the upcoming London Olympics here on Wednesday.

Russell Ford (23rd minute), Matt Ghodes (42nd) and Luke Doernor (64th) struck for the victorious Kookabooras, although India had plenty of positives take home against world number one side at the River Bank Arena. With both teams playing on the blue and pink turf -- which will be in use during the London Games -- for the first time, they took a while to settle down, sharing possession during the opening 15 minutes.

India, who continued to dish out the attacking brand of hockey that saw them squash every opponent during the February FIH Olympic Qualifiers, tested the Aussies in parts but eventually were let down by their poor defence. If not for the brilliance of PR Sreejesh, the margin of defeat could have been higher, the custodian producing six wonderful saves.

Australia surged ahead when Ford made a fine run into the circle, hit straight to Sreejesh before showing good composure in slamming the ball home off the rebound. Ghodes then doubled the lead seven minutes into the second half, sounding the board from a penalty corner.

Ric Charlesworth’s men then began to take complete control of the proceedings, opening the Indian defence at will, who simply struggled to keep pace with the Aussies.
VR Raghunath conceded a penalty stroke six minutes from and Doerner converted it without much fuss as the Aussies scripted an expected victory.

India will take on hosts Great Britain in their second match of the tournament on Thursday. London 2012 organisers braced themselves for their biggest test of the Olympic Park while assuring spectators that airport-style security would not mean hours of queuing to get in.

‘Games Makers’

Six test events are taking place at five venues over the next week with 11,000 staff, including volunteer 'Games Makers', learning the ropes and seeking to iron out any problems before the July 27 opening ceremony. Organisers expect more than 140,000 spectators and 3,000 competitors to attend hockey, water polo and athletics events as well as Paralympic wheelchair tennis and athletics at the park in east London.

The crowd flow is expected to peak at 75,000 on Saturday, when the stadium hosts a university and schools athletics event and is officially opened by a lucky spectator picked from the audience with the clock ticking down to 2,012 hours to go. By next week, after what amounts to the first and only comprehensive pre-Games trial of the Park and spectator areas, organisers will have carried out 42 test events in 12 months across 28 venues.

A queue of staff and contractors snaked along the pavement early on Wednesday as reporters, warned to allow up to 90 minutes to clear accreditation and security scans, arrived for a briefing at the hockey venue. That meeting, with LOCOG chief executive Paul Deighton, started behind schedule but spectators streaming in later said their queues had been much shorter and in most cases around 10 minutes.