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Dutch stroke out South Korea to retain men's hockey title
= = SYDNEY, Sept 30 (AFP) - The Netherlands retained the Olympic men's hockey title with an 8-7 win over South Korea in the tie-breaker here on Saturday, ending a 40-year-old jinx on defending champions. The tie-breaker in the final was enforced when both teams were locked 3-3 after 70 minutes of regulation time and failed to break the deadlock in 15 minutes of extra-time. Song Seung Tae, South Korea's most prolific scorer in the tournament with five goals, pushed the third stroke wide to help the Dutch win a shoot-out for the second match in a row. They had also won the tie-breaker against hosts Australia on Thursday to advance to the final. Australia retained the bronze medal with a 6-3 win over three-time champions Pakistan earlier in the day. The Dutch became the first team to win back-to-back Olympic titles after India's streak of six golds ended at the 1960 Games in Rome. Bram Lomans, Piet-Hein Geeris, Wouter van Pelt and Marten Ekelboom scored in the tie-breaker for the Dutch, before captain Stephan Veen followed his hat-trick in the match with the winning stroke. Jeon Jong-Ha, Yeo Woon-Kon, Kim Kyung-Seok and Kang Keon-Wook converted their shots for the Koreans. South Korea's defeat in their first Olympic final came after they struck twice in the last four minutes to force the match into extra-time. The Dutch, fired by Veen's three goals, appeared to have wrapped up the match when they led 3-1 with just six minutes remaining. Kim Kyung-Seok, however, hit in a penalty corner in the 66th before Kang Keon-Wook scored the next minute to make it 3-3. The Koreans took an early lead in the ninth as Song Seung-Tae broke free from a goalmouth melee and pushed the ball home. The Dutch, who wasted their first penalty corner, met with success with their second in the 20th when Jeon Jong-Ha, standing on the goal line, took a scoop from Bram Lomans on the chest. German umpire Christian Siebrecht awarded the Netherlands a penalty stroke which Veen converted easily to make it 1-1. The Dutch, who ended the first half with two penalty corners that went wide, struck soon after the break when Veen dived to deflect in a pass from the right by Teun de Nooijer. Another deflection by Veen secured the Dutch their third goal six minutes before the final whistle, but South Korea's dual strike in the final moments threw open the game. South Korea's silver medal in only their third Olympics followed their fifth place finish at Atlanta four years ago. Both the Netherlands and South Korea had reached the title round with unexpected help from their rivals. The Dutch, almost out of contention when they crashed to a 2-0 defeat against Pakistan in the preliminary league last Tuesday, were lifted into the semi-finals when Great Britain stunned Germany three hours later. Then in the semi-finals, a missed stroke by Australia's Brent Livermore in the tie-breaker saw the Dutch through after an uninspiring goalless draw. The Koreans too were revived by a last-gasp equaliser by Poland that knocked India out of the semi-final race.
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