BEIJING - Germany brushed aside hosts China 4-1 in their pool A first round match on Monday as they began their bid for the men's hockey Olympic gold that has eluded them since 1992.
Britain, who gained a Beijing spot at the expense of former giants India in a qualifier, beat another former powerhouse Pakistan 4-2 in their opening pool B game.
Elsewhere, China dived to an easy gold in the men's synchronised 10 metre platform, the host nation's second first-place finish in two days in a sport it hopes will help push it to the top of the medal chart.
It was the Olympic debut for World Champions Lin Yue and Huo Liang, who shrugged off the pressure from a home crowd to take the lead from the first round with a dive that won them a clutch of almost-perfect 9.5s, and one perfect 10.
They never relinquished it, eventually winning with 468.18 points. A strong last dive for German duo Patrick Hausding and Sascha Klein — the highest scoring of the whole final — propelled them to a silver medal winning 450.42 points.
Russian duo Gleb Galperin and Dmitriy Dobroskok had held second place until the last round of the final but were undermined by a weak fifth dive and finished with bronze.
In tennis, Rafael Nadal made a successful debut in Olympic singles, overcoming numerous missed chances by sweeping the final four games to beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
Top-seeded Roger Federer had an easier time. He began a bid for his first Olympic medal by beating Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2.
No. 4-seeded Serena Williams won all four games when her match resumed after an overnight wait to complete a rain-interrupted victory over Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 6-3, 6-1.
Defending champion Nicolas Massu of Chile opened his bid by beating Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-4, 7-5. Massu won gold at Athens in both singles and doubles.
