12.05 pm
New Zealand finally broke their duck at the World Cup men's hockey tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, today.
They earned their first points in group A with a 2-1 victory over South Africa.
The result moved them from seventh to sixth in the group and followed earlier losses to the
highly rated Netherlands, Spain and Pakistan.
Goals from Simon Towns and Bevan Hari secured the desired outcome for the New Zealanders while Greg Nicol scored for South Africa, who remain without a victory in the group along with Belgium.
Captain Towns took matters into his own hands to open the scoring in the 13th minute with a sensational individual goal when he dribbled from inside New Zealand's own half.
South Africa responded by converting a penalty corner just before halftime to locking the scores at 1-1. Hari then scored through a well executed penalty corner after the restart to set up a tense closing 10 minutes when South Africa earned several penalty corners.
New Zealand manager Arvind Jasmat hinted at the tension evident among the New Zealand camp as they successfully repelled the South African attacks.
"It certainly created a lot of anxiety on the bench, however we came away with a win and our first points so it is a big relief for the players, coach and management," he said.
New Zealand Hockey chief executive Ramesh Patel arrived in Kuala Lumpur in time to see New Zealand's first win of the tournament.
"Maybe it was an omen that Ramesh was here, and he is bringing us some luck," Jasmat said. "We've got our three points and hopefully we can kick on now."
New Zealand next play Germany tomorrow in a match starting at 1 pm (NZT).
- NZPA
