BEIJING, Aug 9: Resurgent Australia hope to mark the centenary of men’s hockey at the Olympics by defending their gold medal against a strong field in the 12-nation competition starting on Monday.

The Kookaburras, who won their first Olympic gold at Athens four years ago, reclaimed the number one ranking at Germany’s expense by lifting the elite Champions Trophy in the Netherlands in June.

The victory revived Australia, who had struggled to build on their Olympic success after losing to Germany in the final of both the 2006 World Cup and the 2007 Champions Trophy.

But Australia coach Barry Dancer said the tag of being the world’s number one team would mean little when the tournament, expected to be one of the closest in the sport’s history, starts.

“Teams such as Germany, the Netherlands and Spain are all quality teams who, along with a number of other countries, are all capable of winning gold at Beijing,” said Dancer, who resigns from the post in December.

Former masters India will miss the 100th year of Olympic hockey after the eight-time champions failed to qualify for the first time.

India reigned supreme on grass with six consecutive titles from 1928 to 1956 and two more in Tokyo in 1964 and Moscow in 1980.

But with the switch to astro-turf in the 1980s, they fell on such hard times that they lost to Britain in the Olympic qualifier in April, adding to the misery of a failed Asian Games campaign in Doha in 2006.

“No one wanted to see India out of the Olympics but the reality is that the best 12 nations have qualified for Beijing,” said International Hockey Federation chief Els van Breda Vriesman.

“But I am confident they will come back stronger and ready to take on the world again.”

Field hockey was first played at the Summer Games in London in 1908 with six teams drawn from England, Ireland and Scotland, but it was not until the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928 it became a regular medal sport.

Germany, meanwhile, are looking to end a 16-year drought and wrest the Olympic gold medal they last won as a unified team in Barcelona in 1992 and, before that, as West Germany in 1972.

The Germans were embarrassingly confined to a bronze medal in Athens four years ago despite being the reigning World Cup champions, but have conjured a remarkable revival since then.

They retained the World Cup at home in 2006 and won the Champions Trophy in Malaysia in 2007, but only managed fifth place in this year’s edition.

Germany’s failure to finish among the top three in the European championships, thereby missing out on a direct entry to Beijing, proved to be a minor hiccup in their search for glory.

The Germans won the Olympic qualifier in April without conceding a goal in the tournament that included formidable opponents in hosts Japan and Malaysia.

The Netherlands will be looking to play in their fourth successive final, having won the gold at Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000.

Skillful Spain, unpredictable Pakistan and the speedy Koreans will fancy their own chances, making this tournament “too close to call” in the words of Spanish coach Maurits Hendricks.—AFP