Paris, France – Day 4: Reigning Olympic men’s gold medallists Belgium recorded an astonishing victory over Tokyo 2020 silver medallists Australia, with Tom Boon netting a sensational hat-trick as the Red Lions triumphed 6-2 to move top of Pool B in an absorbing Olympic Games Paris 2024 hockey encounter.
On a day that featured only men’s matches, India and Argentina were also winners in Pool B, while Pool A leaders the Netherlands were pegged back by Great Britain as the race for the quarter-finals heated up on a scorching hot day at the Yves-du-Manoir Hockey Stadium.
More information on today’s matches can be found below. For additional information about the Pool Rankings and the various splitters, please click here (Appendix 2, art. 2.2).
Men’s Pool A
The Netherlands (7pts) finished Day 4 sitting at the top of the standings thanks to a 2-2 draw against Great Britain (5pts), who rescued a valuable point thanks to a brilliant late double from Lee Morton. “I don’t score many” said GB’s Morton on his brace. “It’s my first Olympic goal, and I get to score two.”
Third placed Great Britain sit one point behind second placed Germany (6pts), who bounced back from Sunday’s loss to Spain in brilliant style. Gonzalo Peillat (2), Christopher Rühr, Justus Weigand and Mats Grambusch all netted in a 5-2 win over South Africa (1pt), who are fifth in the table. “South Africa showed (by drawing against Great Britain on Sunday) that they can compete on the highest level”, said Germany scorer Rühr. “So we had to play our A-game today, and we played really well and scored five goals, which is not even undeserved.”
Spain (4pts) ended the day occupying fourth place in Pool A having twice trailed host nation France (6th – 1pt) – who led early thanks to two wonderful goals from Timothee Clement – before a Pepe Cunill’s 51st minute penalty corner earned a 3-3 draw for the Red Sticks. “We obviously wanted to win this match because we would have had six points and would be in a very good position”, said Spain’s Cunill. Although we drew the match, we know that we gained a really important point that gives us more chances to qualify.”
Men’s Pool B
Belgium (1st – 9pts) produced easily their best performance of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, crushing Australia (3rd – 6pts) 6-2 thanks to a hat-trick from Tom Boon and additional goals from Alexander Hendrickx, Florent van Aubel and Antoine Kina. The Red Lions thrilled the thousands of watching Belgian fans by securing their place in the competition quarter-finals, although Belgian midfielder Victor Wegnez was cautious in his post-match assessment.
“I think we got lucky a few times, and while it is a great result it is only a pool match so we don’t want to get too excited”, said Wegnez, a gold medallist from Tokyo 2020. “It was just amazing to play in front of those fans. It was a pretty much a home crowd, which is the beauty of Belgium being so close to Paris.”
Earlier in the day, eight times Olympic champions India (2nd – 7pts) – who are yet to face Australia and Belgium – claimed their second win of the competition, seeing off Ireland (6th – 0pts). Harmanpreet Singh scoring both goals in a 2-0 win over the Green Machine, a result which also confirmed their safe passage through to the quarter-finals. “It was a good result for us”, said India striker Sukhjeet Singh. “We played well in a structured way to stop the Ireland team, so we are very happy.”
Rio 2016 gold medallists Argentina (4th – 4 pts) battled to their first victory in Paris, with New Zealand (5th – 0pts) being downed by goals from Tomas Domene and Lucas Martinez.
Argentina goal-scorer Thomas Domene said: “For me, it had always been a dream to be in the Olympic Games and I always also imagined scoring a goal. So I’m very happy. I had a lot of confidence in the team. This was a very important game for us.”
Further information and statistics on all of today’s matches can be found by clicking here.
Notable figures attending the Olympic hockey at Yves-du-Manoir on Day 4 included Her Royal Highness Princess Anne of the British Royal Family and Ms Amélie Oudea Castera, the Minister of Sports for France.
The Paris 2024 Olympic hockey competition continues on Wednesday 31 July with six women’s and two men’s matches taking place. In women’s Pool B, Argentina (1st – 6pts) and Spain (3rd – 4pts) meet at 10:00 CEST on Pitch 1, with South Africa (5th – 0pts) taking on Great Britain (6th – 0pts) on Pitch 2 in the 10:30 game. The final Pool B match of the day sees Australia (2nd – 6pts) facing USA (4th – 1pt) on Pitch 2 at 13:15.
In Pool A, France (6th – 0pts) clash with Germany (4th – 3pts) at 15:45 on Pitch 1 before Belgium (1st – 6pts) play Japan (5th – 0pts) at 17:00 on Pitch 1. Reigning Olympic champions the Netherlands (2nd – 6pts) are in action in the final match of the day, meeting China (3rd – 3pts) at 20:15 on Pitch 2.
The two men’s matches take place in Pool A, with second placed Germany (2nd – 6pts) facing table-topper the Netherlands on Pitch 2 at 17:30 before Spain and South Africa, respectively ranked fourth and fifth, go head-to-head at 1945 on Pitch 1.
The hockey competitions at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 take place from Saturday 27 July to Friday 9 August. Both the men’s and women’s competitions feature 12 teams, split into two pools of six ahead of quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches. For more information about the hockey competitions at Paris 2024, visit Olympics.Hockey.
Olympic Games Paris 2024 – Hockey
30 July 2024 – Day 4
Results
Men’s Pool A
Spain 3-3 France
South Africa 1-5 Germany
Great Britain 2-2 Netherlands
Men’s Pool B
Ireland 0-2 India
Argentina 2-0 New Zealand
Australia 2-6 Belgium
Pool standings overviews
Men: click here.
Women: click here.
Source: FIH.hockey
