Four goals with a broken finger helps ease Child's pain

Reuters

PAINKILLERS: Black Sticks hockey striker Simon Child came up short of his Olympic Games ambition of six goals but four with a broken finger wasn't too bad.

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While Black Sticks hockey striker Simon Child came up short of his Olympic Games ambition of six goals, four with a broken finger wasn't too bad, he guessed.

After the Games ended yesterday with Child, 20, revealed how upset he had been to break his right index finger just before the most important tournament of his life.

He missed vital matchplay going into the Games, then had to undergo experiments with injections to see if it was possible to numb the pain without also robbing him of feel on his stick.

On the eve of the first match at the Olympics, the frustration became too much.

"My last training session the day before we played Korea, I had injections and I was hitting the ball and it was hurting a lot," he said.

"I couldn't trap the ball and then I had a massive blood blister on my hand, and I threw my toys out of the cot."

Video analysis coach Darren Smith calmed Child down, he was eased into the Korea game, and picked up sharpness as the Games went on.

In the playoff for seventh and eighth against Pakistan yesterday he was in full flight.

In a 4-2 win he scored his fourth goal of the Olympics and tormented the defence with his speed and eye for a half chance.

"I think it worked out okay. I'm stoked my finger came 75-80 per cent and I could play at the Olympics," he said.

"It's been pretty frustrating. I had goals for myself and set myself a target of six goals for the tournament and a few assists.

"I didn't quite get there in the end. I only got four, which is okay. There were a couple of bad misses today.

"Today I nearly got back to my best. It took me a while to hit my straps again, which is a bit of a pain because it's the Olympics, and it's the pinnacle of the hockey calendar."

New Zealand notched a rare win over Pakistan to end a tournament that was as frustrating for the team as it was for Child.

Korea, Belgium and Pakistan were beaten easily, a draw with China should have been a win, and key games against Germany and Spain were both lost.

Seventh was not what the Black Caps wanted, Child said.

"It's obviously not where we wanted to be and we think we're a far better side than where we ended up. We didn't quite get a couple of results in pool play and we've only have ourselves to blame for that.

"But we don't beat Pakistan very often, they're quite a good side on their day. We're a team on the rise and we're progressing nicely.

"We're starting to consistently beat teams like Pakistan. We're pretty pleased with the way we played today."

-NZPA