Christopher Zeller was the only goal scorer for the game.

Earlier in the day, Australia crushed the Netherlands 6-2 to win bronze.

Claudia Burkart (11th minute), Carla Rebecchi (23rd) and Noel Barrionuevo (62nd) scored the goals for Argentina. Anke Kuehn scored Germany’s only goal.

The New Zealand’s hockey manager Kevin Marr had to watch the game from grandstand as punishment.

Olympic hockey rules state that shorts must match the color of a players underwear.

“They’re pretty pedantic rulings,” Marr told NZPA.

“They are trying to ensure teams present themselves in the best possible light. I understand where the rule comes from but to suspend players is wrong.”

Source

In other matches, Germany beat China 4-1 and Great Britain defeat Pakistan 4-2.

Hayden Shaw scored three goals for New Zealand beating South Korea 3-1.

Spain had a victory over Belgium 4-2 and the Netherlands beat South Africa 5-0.

The women’s matches continue today (Tuesday)

For a country of its population, around 1.13, India doesn’t have a particularly good track record at the Olympic games. They have competed in almost every Olympic Games since 1900 but have only managed to win a total of 17 medals, 18 including today’s gold.

India has been dominate in men’s hockey winning many gold medals over the years. This Olympics, however, India failed to even qualify for that event - the first time in 80 years.

India is a developing country; China however is also a developing country and it manages to finish at the top of the medal table. Some say the problem is that India loves cricket too much, but even in cricket, Australia dominates the sport, has a population of around 20 million people and still manages to finish in the top five or six countries at the Olympics.

India competed for the first time in the Olympic Games in 1900 in Paris. It had just one competitor Norman Pritchard. Since India was not yet independent, some records show that Pritchard won medals for Great Britain. Fortunately for India, the IOC counts the medals for India.

You could say 1952 was a golden year for India at the Olympics, winning 2 gold medals - a gold (in hockey) and a bronze in wrestling.

Let’s hope India can win at least one more medal at the Beijing Olympics!

Here is a list of India’s medals:

2008 - gold - shooting
2004 - silver - shooting, men’s double trap
2000 - bronze - weightlifting
1996 - bronze - men’s singles tennis
1992 - no medals
1988 - no medals
1984 - no medals
1980 - gold - men’s hockey
1976 - no medals
1972 - bronze - men’s hockey
1968 - bronze
1964 - gold - men’s hockey
1960 - silver
1956 - gold - men’s hockey
1952 - gold - men’s hockey, bronze - wrestling
1948 - gold - men’s hockey
1936 - gold - men’s hockey
1932 - gold
1928 - gold - men’s hockey
1924 - no medals
1920 - no medals
1900 - two silver medals, men’s 200m and men’s 200m hurdles

South Korea’s Kim Mi Seon opened the scoring in the 18th minute and Australia drew level when Liddelow Shelly scored in the 25th minute.

South Korea then gained the upper hand. Kim Darae, Gim Sung Hee and Park Mi Hyun scored in the 27th, 32nd and 34th minute to give South Korea a 4-1 lead before half-time.

In the second half, Australia piled much pressure and got three goals from Hudson Nicole, Liddelow Shelly and Young Sarah, and leveled the score 4-4.

With only five minutes to go, Eastham Casey deflected a goal into the circle and sealed Australia’s win 5-4.

China put on a strong performance as they blanked Spain 3-0 in the first match of Pool A. All of China’s goals were from reverse sticks from Fu Baorong, Li Hongxia and Gao Lihua.

The Netherlands once again underlined their supremacy by whitewashing South Africa 6-0.

In the other games of the day, the United States has a shock 2-2 draw with the world No. Argentina thanks to a late goal by Loy Angela, Germany saw off early challenge from the Great Britain for a 5-1 victory and Japan upset New Zealand 2-1.

from: xinhuanet.com

“To play the world No. 2 in the first game of the Olympics and come away with a 2-all tie, we are to a degree satisfied,” U.S. coach Lee Bodimeade said.

The game was played in the afternoon rain in Beijing.

“I am not so happy with the result, because first, we were winning five minutes before finishing the game,” Argentine captain Magdalena Aicega said. “When we saw the number of shot corners we had and the number of penetrations we had … we had more than the U.S.A.”

In other games China defeated Spain 3-0 and Japan defeated New Zealand 2-1.

Aicega said there’s no time to worry about the result. Argentina will play Great Britain when pool play resumes Tuesday.

“The team have to look forward because it’s the first game, and we had a point,” she said.

The U.S. will play Japan on Tuesday.

Argentina’s Carla Rebecchi scored two goals in the first 12 minutes, and her team threatened to score several more times before the U.S. replied. Keli Smith scored after a penalty corner to cut Argentina’s lead to 2-1 18 minutes into the game. The Americans continued to control play for the remainder of the first half, but they missed on their next two penalty corners, and Argentina maintained its lead.

U.S. captain Kate Barber said her team remained calm after falling behind.

“We were a little bit on the back foot to start, and Argentina made us pay for that,” she said. “Our team is known to persist throughout the game, regardless of the situation or the time or phase of the game.”

The U.S. had a chance to win, but couldn’t convert after getting a penalty corner in the final minute. That opportunity, and the many stops the Americans made on Argentina’s penalty corners made Bodimeade think the Americans could have won.

“I’ll take the point,” he said. “We have some work to do.”

In other action Sunday, host China dominated Spain 3-0 in its opener. China’s Fu Baorong scored the first goal of the match in the 17th minute, then Li Hongxia followed with a goal in the 31st minute. Lihua Gao scored the only second-half goal.

Japan defeated New Zealand 2-1 in the first game Sunday. Sakae Morimoto scored the first goal in the 12th minute, then Toshie Tsukui scored five minutes later to make it 2-0. New Zealand’s Jaimee Claxton scored in the 25th minute to end the scoring.

Australia recovered from a 4-1 deficit to beat South Korea 5-4. Casey Eastham scored the game-winner in the 65th minute.

In the late games, top-ranked Netherlands defeated South Africa 6-0 and defending Olympic champion Germany defeated Great Britain 5-1.