Paris Olympics 2024: Hockeyroos, Squibb’s medal hopes crushed with shock quarterfinal loss to China

Country WA star Penny Squibb’s dream for an Olympic medal at the Paris Games is officially over, after the Hockeyroos were bundled out in Monday’s quarterfinal. The shock 3-2 to China was a hard pill to swallow for the women’s national team after they topped their pool standings with an unbeaten run in the qualifiers. Australia started brilliantly in the competition with wins over South Africa, Great Britain and then USA. On Friday they played out a terrific 3-3 draw with Argentina before a commanding 3-1 win over Spain on Saturday helped the Hockeyroos top pool B. That set up a showdown with China, who finished fourth in the other pool, at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium on Monday for a chance to reach the semifinals. However it was a heartbreaking exit for the Hockeyroos as they went down by a goal to close out what was such a promising Olympic campaign. Squibb, who hails from Tambellup, was a key part of their defensive group for the Games and had two unsuccessful shots from penalty corners in the quarterfinal. The Hockeyroos scored two of their nine penalty corner attempts and had seven missed field goals in a game that had plenty of controversy. The third Chinese goal had plenty talking, Zhong Jiaqi roofing her backstick and despite a review they were unable to find a potential Chinese foot in the build-up and the goal stood. Star striker Alice Arnott scored in the opening 10 minutes of the quarterfinal but the Hockeyroos led for just one minute as China’s Ma Ning hit back. Dan Wen then made it 2-1 in the second quarter after some sloppy defending. Trailing 3-1 after the Jiaqi goal, the Hockeyroos pressed with more conviction late in the third and Tatum Stewart gave her side some life when she clawed a goal back after her hit bounced through four defenders. Australia had five final-quarter penalty corners as they pushed to equalise, but Chinese goalkeeper Ye Jiao made two brilliant saves to end Australia’s medal hopes. Hockeyroos head coach Katrina Powell said she was immensely proud of her group in the post-match. “I couldn’t be more proud of the athletes,” she said. “They’re just amazing athletes and they’re just bloody amazing humans, and that’s why it hurts. You want good things for good people, and sport is not fair. “We’ve played some great hockey. The brand is beautiful. They bought in, they delivered. Just not today. We were good today, but China was better.” Squibb made an impressive Olympic debut, having waited nearly eight years for her moment on the world’s biggest stage.