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2008 Olympics>Previews
UPDATED: August-8-2008  
Hockey
 

Origin

Records exist of it having been played in Persia in 2000 BC. In mediaeval Europe, pictures of men playing a game with hooked sticks appear on stained-glass windows at both the Canterbury and Gloucester cathedrals. It became so popular by the Middle Ages that it was banned in England for a time because it interfered with the practice of archery, which was the basis for national defence. The first hockey club is considered to be the Blackheath Football and Hockey Club in south-east London, which dates back to at least 1861, and possibly the 1840s. The first groups to organise the game were formed in Great Britain. These included the National Hockey Union that was located in the Bristol area from 1887-1895, and the national governing body, the Amateur Hockey Association, that was formed in London in 1886. Hockey truly developed as a British sport, before being carried to the four corners of the British Empire by the nation's armed forces and other workers. Most of the dominant nations in the sport are, or were, members of the British Empire. This includes India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and England. Other nations have come to the fore in more recent times to make the game a truly worldwide sport.

(BOCOG)

Preview for Team China

South Korean coach Kim Chang-back and his Chinese women's hockey team lost their golden opportunity four years ago in Athens but hope they won't let the chance slip away on home soil.

Kim took a long time shrugging off the painful memory of losing to Germany in a penalty shoot-out in the Athens semifinals. But he picked himself and the Chinese team up again to launch another campaign for Olympic gold.

He assembled a new squad made up of young stars and veterans which has consistently ranked among the world's top five teams in the past few years. However, winning a tournament against hockey mega names such as the Netherlands, Germany and Australia could be the most difficult mission of Kim's life.

The men's side will play its first Olympics after the host nation was automatically admitted. But China has proven it is much more than a lucky entrant by beating elite international outfits South Korea and Australia in the past few months.

It now has the ability to produce a surprisingly good result like the then-debuting women's side did at the 2000 Sydney Games.

(China Daily August 1, 2008)


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23 21 28 72
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