Wales battle to draw with Chile in Hockey World Cup qualifying
· Yahoo Sports
Wales battled from 2-1 down to draw with Chile in their opening Hockey World Cup qualifying game.
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Nic Morgan opened the scoring for Wales inside four minutes in contentious fashion after a smart pass from co-captain Jacob Draper.
The hosts reviewed the decision but the television match official upheld umpire Tyler Klenk's ruling.
Chile equalised after a smart deflection from Raimundo Valenzuela, and took a lead into half-time after a counter attack goal from Agustin Valenzuela.
Gareth Furlong levelled the score with a penalty stroke at the start of the fourth quarter.
Furlong had a chance to win it from a penalty corner in the final minute, but Adrian Henriquez made a brilliant save to deny him.
The game marked the 150th international cap for defender Daniel Kyriakides - who has won 139 for Wales and 11 for Great Britain.
Danny Newcombe's side are seeking World Cup qualification for just the second time in their history, having made their tournament debut in 2023 in India.
Wales will play the world's number nine ranked side France on Tuesday (21:00 GMT), before their final pool game against 20th ranked Scotland on Wednesday (21:00 GMT).
Earlier on Sunday, Scotland secured a surprise 3-2 victory over France in their pursuit of a first ever Hockey World Cup qualification.
France took an early lead in Pool A as Gaspard Xavier struck before Victor Charlet's penalty stroke doubled the deficit in the second quarter.
However, Jamie Golden replied with Scotland's first penalty corner of the match.
His older brother Cameron levelled minutes later with a cool finish and then scored his second, smashing home from a tight angle to give the Scots a 3-2 lead at the half.
France attempted to battle back in a goalless third quarter as they forced a smart save from Thomas Alexander, and then hit the post through Etienne Tynevez.
But Scotland withstood intense pressure to frustrate France in the fourth quarter, as Etienne Tynevez hit the post again with 25 seconds remaining of the game.
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In Pool B Ireland made a bright start to their qualifying hopes with a 5-2 win over Canada while Poland beat South Korea 3-2 in the other games in Santiago.
Nine teams have already qualified either from winning their respective continental championship in 2025 or through the FIH Pro League, with the Netherlands and Belgium qualifying as hosts.
There are two qualifying tournaments, each with eight countries divided into two pools of four based on their world ranking.
The top three teams from each tournament automatically qualify.
The highest world-ranked fourth-placed team across the two events will also earn a coveted World Cup berth.
In the other qualifying tournament in Egypt, England made light work of Japan as Tom Sorsby and Henry Croft both scored twice and Sam Ward grabbed a goal in a 5-0 win.
There were also wins for Malaysia, Pakistan and Egypt.