Osaka, March 19: Britain beat Malaysia to finish fifth in the Olympic men's hockey qualifying tournament, though both teams had secured their tickets to Sydney the day before.Second-half goals by Calum Giles and Stuart Head gave Britain a 2-1 victory in a play-off between the last two nations to qualify in the 12-team competition. They had already made the cut on Saturday, Britain beating Argentina and Malaysia edging Japan to join preliminary-round qualifiers South Korea, Poland, Spain and Pakistan.In other action, Argentina slipped by Japan 1-0 in a seventh place play-off on a 15th-minute score by Maximo Pellegrino. That ended the host nation's slim hopes of finding its way to Sydney as a replacement for South Africa, which has already qualified but is considering pulling out.In two consolation matches, New Zealand beat Belarus 6-3 and Belgium trounced Switzerland 6-1. On Monday, Pakistan and Spain will play for the tournament championship while South Korea and Poland contest third-placed honors. At the bottom of the table, Belarus will face Switzerland and New Zealand will meet Belgium.Besides Australia and defending champion the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, India and South Africa have already qualified for the Olympics, winning continental tournaments in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.
