The SA men's and women's squads finished bottom of their pools in the opening round.
South African striker Mustapha Cassiem (right) in action during a pool match against Spain at the Hockey World Cup. Picture: Ben McShane/Sportsfile/Getty Images
Despite the national men’s side putting up a fight on Thursday to pick up their only point of the opening round, both SA teams have been relegated to lower-tier classification matches at the men’s and women’s Hockey World Cup tournaments taking place concurrently in Belgium and the Netherlands.
In their last Pool C game in Wavre, the men’s squad dug deep to earn a 2-2 draw against Australia, who went unbeaten in the first round to finish top of their pool.
Mustapha Cassiem scored in the fourth minute to give the South Africans the early lead, and while Australia hit back with two goals in the third quarter, Cassiem found the net again shortly afterwards to earn a consolation point for his side.
Earlier in the tournament, the SA men lost 3-1 to Spain and were defeated 4-1 by Ireland.
Having settled for bottom spot in their pool, they were set to compete in the classification rounds for ninth to 16th positions.
Participating in Pool H in the next round, they were scheduled to face France on Friday and Malaysia on Sunday, with the final placing matches to be contested next Friday.
SA women struggle
Meanwhile, the national women’s team struggled to give any of their opponents a real challenge in the opening round.
In their three Pool D matches in Amstelveen, they lost 4-0 against England, fell 6-1 to India and were beaten 5-1 by China.
Finishing bottom of their pool, the SA women were now due to join the men’s side in the classification rounds for ninth to 16th places.
Participating in Pool G, they were set to face Japan on Friday and Chile on Sunday, with the final placing matches to be held next Thursday.
The national men’s squad were still in line to achieve their best result at the World Cup, having never finished higher than 10th, though they needed to win their next two games to give themselves a chance.
And the SA women’s team could achieve their best performance since they ended seventh at the 1998 edition of the World Cup, though they too needed to go unbeaten in the next round.
