GB men’s hockey team start with emphatic victory

Great Britain’s men started their bid for Olympic hockey gold with a commanding 4-0 win over Spain in Pool A.

Nick Park poached the ball off a Spanish player, beat a covering defender and then calmly lifted the ball over Spain’s goalkeeper Luis Calzado to give Britain the lead in the first quarter.

Gareth Furlong doubled the lead at the start of the second quarter, slamming the ball through Calzado’s legs.

Furlong made the game safe in the final quarter as Calzado failed to keep out another powerful strike, before Rupert Shipperley pounced to force the ball home for Britain’s fourth.

Spain had their moments at an overcast Yves-du-Manoir Stadium but a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping from Ollie Payne stopped them from scoring.

Britain, captained by Northern Ireland’s David Ames, are aiming to secure a first Olympic medal since winning gold in 1988.

They will South Africa next on Sunday evening before facing top seeds the Netherlands, hosts France and world champions Germany in their other pool matches. The top four teams go through to the quarter-finals.

Great Britain women start their Pool B campaign against Spain at 12:15 BST on Sunday.

Meanwhile, reigning Olympic champions Belgium overcame Ireland 2-0 in the opening match of men’s Pool B.

Tom Boon opened the scoring and Alexander Hendrickx, who led the scoring charts in their Tokyo triumph three years ago, added the second.