18 Aug 2008

Black Sticks draw with China

6:50 am on 18 August 2008

The New Zealand men's hockey team know they blew a big opportunity to get a foot into the semi-finals at the Beijing Olympics after they were held 2-2 by China.

The bottom of the group Chinese led 2-1 at half time and despite the Black Sticks dominating the second period they could only draw level.

The result means New Zealand must beat Germany in their last group match and hope other results go their way.

Coach Shane McLeod says they missed a lot of chances and the three points would have made it a lot easier to qualify for the play-offs.