The fourth-ranked Spain, beating China 2-1 as their third straight win in the pool stage, assured them of a place in the semifinals of the Olympic men's hockey tournament in Beijing on Friday.

Hosts China failed to survive the pool with three losses.

China took an early 1-0 lead on a penalty corner from Na Yubo in the sixth minute. The score was leveled to 1-1 in the 17th minute when Spain's Ribas Xavier converted a penalty corner.

A field goal from Pol Amat in the 67th minute pulled Spain ahead and finally secured their 2-1 win.

"China are a new team but they made the match tough," said Spain coach Maurits Hendriks, who was quite happy with their result.

China coach Kim Sang-ryul said the Chinese players did not perform their advantages, because of either environment or personal emotions. "I felt regret for three losses. I should be responsible for the tactical problems."

Kim also praised Na Yobo, the scorer for the first goal in three games, as a speedy and skilled player, but a further improvement should be made in teamwork.

The fourth-ranked Spain now top Pool A with nine points and have only Germany and South Korea to play in the pool stage.

In other Pool A matches Friday, New Zealand downed Belgium 4-2 and Germany drew with South Korea 3-3. The second draw put Germany third in the pool with five points, one point behind New Zealand.

In Pool B, defending champions Australia and the third-ranked the Netherlands maintained their records with three wins.

Both with nine points, Australia top the pool with bigger goal differences than the Netherlands. The two will next meet on Sunday.

Outplaying the seventh-ranked Pakistan 3-1, Australian coach Barry Dancer said: "We are obviously pleased with today's win and the way we played. Pakistan always represents a difficult challenge for our team but we coped well tonight."

Pakistan, crashing to their second defeat in three matches, only get three points.

Canada, defeated by the Netherlands 4-2, and South Africa, beaten by Britain 2-0, are both shut out of the semifinals for three losses. Britain now rank third with six points.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)