Dutch dominate vs Belgium, Kiwis beat Australia

London Olympic 2012 Hockey: Dutch forward Kim Lammers scored twice on her Olympic debut as the Netherlands took its first step toward retaining the Olympic women`s hockey gold, beating newcomers Belgium 3-0.

Lammers is the most-capped Dutch player, having played her first international game in 2002, but she was not chosen for the Athens 2004 team and a knee injury forced her to miss the Beijing Olympics. She scored near the end of the first half and again with a near-post finish in the 42nd minute. "We played a pretty good first game," Lammers said. "It`s great to score goals in this big tournament. I`m pretty happy because we also won the game and that is the most important thing for today." The match was played on the Riverbank Arena`s newly built bright blue pitch, with a pink border. It is the first time an Olympic hockey match has been played on a pitch that is not green. The pink and blue were designed to contrast with the fast-moving yellow ball, making the game easier to play for competitors and easier to follow for spectators. They also reflect the London Olympic colors. Caia van Maasakker sealed the Dutch win late in the second half, making the most of a penalty corner to smash the ball into the net. Eva de Goede, who set up Lammers` first goal, marked her 100th appearance for the Netherlands. "My parents and sister were in the crowd watching. I`m very proud," she said. The 17-year-old Belgian goalkeeper Aisling D`Hooghe put up a strong defence against a constant barrage of attacks from a Dutch team that controlled the game from the start and had 25 opportunities on goal. The Belgium team had only two chances, one from a penalty corner and another from open play. "The defence was a very solid point today - we did it quite well in the first half. We had to attack more and we didn`t do it enough and not at the good moments, so we have to do it a bit more," D`Hooghe said. But the youngster was not disheartened by the loss. "I think that we could show something here at the Olympics. Why not a surprise for everybody?" she said. World player of the year and Dutch captain Maartje Paumen could not capitalize on her two opportunities to score. She broke the Olympic scoring record in Beijing with 11 goals, all from penalty corners - but the two penalty corners Paumen took against Belgium were pushed away by D`Hooghe. On Tuesday the Netherlands will play Japan and Belgium will face China. Earlier Sunday morning Cathryn Finlayson scored in the third minute to give New Zealand a 1-0 victory over old rival Australia in the opening women`s hockey match at the London Olympics. Australia is a three-time Olympic champion, but its last gold medal performance was at home during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. New Zealand, meanwhile, is improving after failing to win a single match at the 2008 Beijing Games. New Zealand had the ball in the Australian net in just the second minute, but the umpire had already blown for a short corner for an earlier offense. From the corner, Finlayson hammered in the rebound for her 18th international goal. Australia should have equalized before the break but first veteran Megan Rivers hit the post with a low hard shot and then Emily Smith could only shoot straight at New Zealand goalkeeper Bianca Russell when all alone in the circle just before half time. Australia threw everything into attack in the second half but could not break down the stubborn Kiwi defense and could have gone further behind had it not been for a great low save by goalkeeper Toni Cronk to turn away a Charlotte Harrison backhand shot. "We created a lot of chances in the first half," said New Zealand captain Kayla Sharland. "We scouted them a lot, we watched a lot of video footage of them," she added. "We knew our gameplan two months ago, we knew what we needed to do. We wanted to have a good start and get on a roll, I`m just very happy for the group." Group B also features one of the tournament favorites, Argentina, along with Germany, South Africa and the United States. Defending champion the Netherlands is in Group A with Belgium, China, Britain, Japan and South Korea. The men`s hockey tournament was scheduled to start Monday. (AGENCIES)