Pakistan

ATHENS-Japan's women's hockey team slipped to a 3-1 defeat to South Korea on Thursday morning to wrap up their first Olympic Games campaign ranked eighth of the 10 teams.

The fast and aggressive Koreans stunned Japan with three goals in the opening 20 minutes, two by Oh Ko Woon from penalty corner moves and a third from Kim Jin Kyoung.

Although Japan's captain, Keiko Miura, pulled one back just before the halftime whistle, again from a penalty corner, there was no further scoring in this classification match to decide the seventh and eighth positions.

There was a general feeling of disappointment in the Japanese camp, as they had set their sights on a semifinal berth after winning a qualifying tournament in Auckland in March.

``To be honest it was not fun,'' Miura said. ``I couldn't really enjoy it because the situation in Japan is such that we couldn't prepare well enough before coming here.

``It was our first Olympics and therefore a new experience, and it took us a while to get into the flow of the competition.''

Miura and her teammates are amateur players, without the corporate backing of the full-time professionals who comprise the women's softball and volleyball teams.

She can't see the situation changing in the near future, although she's hoping Japan's qualification for Athens will have spinoffs back home.

``The Olympic Games are all about participation, and we have come here and done our best, which means a lot to us,'' Miura said. ``I know that many people in Japan have been watching our games, so we've been able to promote hockey. Hopefully, they will have been inspired by us and start supporting the game, or playing.

``But in reality it is difficult to become a professional player in Japan.''

Miura compared her team's status with that of breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima, who won the gold medal in both the 100- and 200-meter races in his second Olympic appearance.

``Before we came here our real goal was the Beijing Olympics in 2008,'' she said. ``Even Kitajima was fourth (in the 100) in Sydney in his first Olympics, so for us it's the same. We will take this experience into the next Games and then aim to do much better.''

Even with an 8.30 a.m. start the match was played under a hot sun at the seaside stadium.

The winning team showed true Olympic spirit to the vanquished Japanese after the game by inviting them to join in souvenir photographs on the field.(IHT/Asahi: August 27,2004) (08/27)

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