AUSTRALIA and China both qualified Monday for the women’s soccer tournament at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

    Australia beat North Korea 2-1 while China defeated South Korea 1-0 to claim Asia’s two places in the 12-team tournament.

    Michelle Heyman and Katrina Gorry scored for Australia, which was undefeated in qualifying, and which will make its first Olympic appearance since Athens in 2004.

    Wang Shanshan scored the only goal for China, which missed out on the London Games in 2012.

    Australia improved to 12 points while China is on 10 points with one game left to play.

    Japan, former world champion and the 2012 silver medalist, beat Vietnam 6-1 but failed to qualify for its fourth successive Olympic Games.

    China, 17th in the world rankings, was not a favorite in the Rio 2016 qualifications.

    China coach Bruno Bini, a Frenchman who took the rein last year, said : “Before coming to Japan for the qualification, I told the Chinese Football Association my plan is to get five points in the first three matches. Fortunately, we took seven points.”

    “Before today’s duel against South Korea, I told my players not to squander the advantage we had already got. Go and win!” Bini said.

    South Korea coach Yoon Duk-yeo said, “China deserved the win today, and we’ll play hard until the last match. Our players are really exhausted. I will send in players who haven’t been getting into action so far in the last game against Vietnam.”

    Forward Wang Shanshan gifted China the winning goal with a close-range header on midfielder Wang Shuang’s left cross in the 43rd minute.

    Wang Shuang said after the game: “I practice this kind of cross a lot in training and I am so glad that my first cross in today’s game helped Wang Shanshan score.”

    Wang Shanshan said: “Frankly speaking, our form today was not as good as that in the game against Japan. We felt a bit tired as this was the fourth game in eight days. But we managed to fight to the end.”

    (SD-Agencies)