Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, the world top four teams have shot into the semifinals of the Olympic men's hockey tournament?in Beijing?on Tuesday.

Top-ranked Australia, drawing Britain 3-3, finished the preliminary competition second in Pool B with 11 points.

The Netherlands, ranked third in the world, beating Pakistan 4-2 which added one more win to their tally, topped Pool B with 13 points.

In Pool A, the second-ranked Germany upset New Zealand 3-1 to finish second with 11 points, one point behind Spain who defeated South Korea 2-1.

Hosts China missed out their top-eight goal with a 3-1 defeat to Belgium. With one draw and four losses out of five, China ranked bottom in Pool A with only one point.

China's head coach Kim Sang-ryul said he was very unhappy from the beginning to now. "In the match we started well, but one person made a stupid mistake which gave the opponents chances and the more mistakes were made, and suddenly the match turned over," said the South Korean man.

The day also saw Canada downed South Africa 5-3. South Africa rank bottom of Pool B with five losses. They will meet China for the 11th and 12th place.

In the semifinals, Australia play Spain and the Netherlands clash with Germany on Thursday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2008)