August 24, 2008	Sunday	Sha'aban 21, 1429

BEIJING, Aug 23: Power-packed Germany won the Olympic men’s hockey gold medal after 16 years with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Spain in the final on Saturday.

Christopher Zeller netted the winner in the 16th minute with a ferocious penalty corner before the Germans warded off repeated Spanish attacks to strike gold in field hockey’s 100th year at the Olympics.

Germany added the Olympic title to the World Cup triumph two years ago, reinforcing their credentials as the sport’s foremost nation despite losing the number one ranking to Australia in June.

Germany improved upon their bronze medal finish at Athens four years ago, when they beat Spain 4-3 in the play-off, to win their first gold since the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

It was two-in-a-row for coach Markus Weise, who had led the German women’s team to their maiden Olympic title in Athens before taking up the men’s job after Bernhard Peters switched to football.

Spain lived up to their billing as the best team never to have won the Olympic gold as they faltered for the third time after losing finals to India in 1980 and the Netherlands in 1996.

The Spanish strikers, led by the seasoned Santi Freixa, raided the rivals’ half through 70 minutes of gripping hockey, but could not get past the sturdy German defence that packed a powerful punch.

Freixa, who had scored five goals in the competition, failed to convert three penalty corners as Germany built on their 1-0 win over Spain in the preliminary league.

Meanwhile, Athens Olympic champions Australia won the bronze medal with a spectacular 6-2 win over the Netherlands earlier on Saturday.

The world number one Kookaburras, still smarting from Thursday’s semi-final loss to Spain, took their frustration out on the Dutch by scoring three goals in the first nine minutes.

The win bettered Australia’s 6-3 triumph over Pakistan in a similar play-off for the bronze at their home Olympics in Sydney in 2000.

The Netherlands failed to win a medal for the first time in four successive Olympics, having won the title in 1996 and 2000 and a silver in Athens four years ago.

The loss meant the veteran Dutch trio of Teun de Nooijer, goalkeeper Guus Vogels and captain Jeroen Delmee return home empty-handed from their fourth and final Olympic appearance.

The match began on a sensational note as Australia’s Eddie Ockenden scored two back-to-back goals in the fifth and sixth minutes and Des Abbott added a third one for the Kookaburras in the ninth.

Three minutes later, Dutch penalty corner specialist Taeke Taekema made it 1-3 with his 12th goal in the competition and veteran Teun de Nooijer reduced the margin further in the 27th.

Australia went 4-2 at the break after a goal from Edi Matheson seven minutes before half-time and Rob Hammond added one more soon after resumption to make it 5-2.

Australia completed their scoring spree eight minutes from the end when Luke Doerner banged in a penalty corner.—AFP