OSAKA, MARCH 11: Spain and Pakistan made light of cold and wet conditions to play out an exciting 4-4 draw in the Olympic Field Hockey Qualifying Tournament here today. In other matches, New Zealand came back from the brink to stun Belgium 5-4, Argentina's Jorge Lombi scored four goals in his side's 6-0 rout of Belarus, while hosts Japan downed Poland 2-0.Pakistan and Spain justified their top billing in the 12-nation event, which will send six qualifiers to the Sydney Olympics, by producing a fast-paced encounter - despite the near sub-zero conditions and heavy rain.Pakistan's penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas scored all his team's four goals and goalkeeper Ahmed Alam saved a penalty stroke but the doughty Spaniards did not give up.The 23-year-old Abbas put Pakistan 2-0 up in the first eight minutes by converting the first two penalty corners. Spain, silver-medallists at the Atlanta Olympics four years ago, earned a lucky break in the 17th minute when Eduard Tubau was stick-checked inside the circle and Jan Dinares coolly put in the resulting penalty stroke.Abbas, showing no signs of the groin injury that kept him out of competitive hockey for four months, increased the margin to 3-1 with another penalty corner scoop in the 25th minute. Spain, however, went into half-time on equal terms at 3-3 as their own corner expert Xavier Ribas struck twice in two minutes just before the break.New Zealand came back from the brink to stun Belgium in a thrilling Group A match. The win gave New Zealand four points from two matches - they drew 2-2 with Britain on Friday - and kept their hopes alive of finishing among the top six qualifiers for the Sydney Olympics in September.For Belgium, it was their second successive defeat after the 2-1 loss to South Korea. New Zealand's fightback started a minute before half-time when Brett Leaver converted a penalty corner to make it 1-3. In an exciting second half, the Kiwis made it 3-3 within the first nine minutes, before Belgium again took the lead in the 49th through a field goal by Joeri Beunen. Umesh Parag, playing with three stitches sustained in the previous match against Britain, made it 4-4 for the Kiwis in the 56th minute. Craig Reynolds then scored the match-winner eight minutes before the final whistle with a penalty corner.
