Dutch and Germans open with big wins

By Sanjay Rajan

BEIJING (Reuters) - Defending champions Germany and the Netherlands swamped their opponents on Sunday, while former champions Australia scraped past South Korea in the first round of the Olympic women's hockey.

Germany thrashed Britain, ranked 10th and whose last Olympic appearance was eight years ago, 5-1 and top-ranked Netherlands hammered South Africa 6-0.

"The scale of defeat hurts a great deal," British coach Danny Kerry said.

Australia meanwhile fought back from a three-goal deficit to beat South Korea 5-4.

On a rain-soaked opening day, Japan beat New Zealand 2-1 and China beat Spain.

Argentina, shooting for a first Olympic women's hockey gold, were held 2-2 by the unfancied U.S. team who were reduced to 10 players for nearly 20 minutes in the second half due to yellow card suspensions.

The men's first round matches will be played on Monday.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)