Kingsbridge hockey star facing fight for Olympic survival

Giselle Ansley and Team GB’s women’s hockey stars insist they will use their turbulent Tokyo experience to help them bounce back and ‘create history’ after a slow start at the Olympics.  

The Kingsbridge star, 32, was part of the side that followed up their narrow 2-1 defeat against Spain with a 4-0 thrashing against Australia to leave them with an uphill battle to advance from Pool B in Paris.

But with four of the six teams in the group progressing, they will still fancy their chances with South Africa, the United States and Argentina all to play at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium.

Britain lost two pool games in the Japanese capital three years ago but recovered to qualify and eventually bank a hard-fought bronze medal.

And Rio 2016 gold medallist Hollie Pearne-Webb, whose team face the South Africans on Wednesday, said: “We lost two games in Tokyo, we’ve got three games next so it’s very much about focusing on South Africa.

“It is not over – this is tournament hockey and there are ups and downs.

“We played really well [against Spain] and the result didn’t go our way – we’ve definitely got belief about these games coming up and it’s just about taking one game at a time and focusing on that.

“This group here have never won an Olympic medal together so it’s very much our focus to create history and win a medal ourselves.

“It’s a very different group – bar the Dutch, anyone can beat anyone on any given day, so we very much still have belief that we’re still in this tournament and can still get there.”

Britain’s hockey stars make up some of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support.

The Australians came flying out of the blocks and got the reward for their early dominance at the start of the second quarter.

Rebecca Greiner fired home and just two minutes later, things went from bad to worse for the Brits as Alice Arnott doubled their advantage.

Neil Diamond's karaoke classic 'Sweet Caroline' blared out of the stadium speakers at half-time – and the Brits were certainly struggling to hit the right notes after a firmly one-sided opening period.

Ralph’s side did rally, however, forcing the initiative slightly more after the break but still struggling to get on the scoresheet and cut the deficit.

And the Aussies made them pay as late strikes from Tatum Stewart and Grace Stewart inflicted a heavy defeat on the Brits.

Captain Pearne-Webb, 33, added: “We’re disappointed with our performance today – it was frustrating after the game yesterday as we played well there but weren’t at the races today.

“Australia deserved to win – we played well in the third quarter but lost it in the second quarter.

“There are things there that we need to learn from – we are very much still in this tournament.

“It’s still in our control in terms of getting through to the quarters – it’s very much about sticking together as a group, resetting and getting ready for the next game.”

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