Australia fired a solid first salvo in their battle to win an elusive men’s hockey gold yesterday while fellow favorites Germany and the Netherlands also squeezed out wins.

The Australians have made the Olympic semifinals seven times and won six medals but despite having one of the strongest teams on the circuit they have never climbed all the way up the podium.

“We are unabashed in our determination to win the gold,” said coach Barry Dancer after his team beat New Zealand 4-1 with three flowing field goals from 25-year-old Jamie Dwyer.

It was harder work for world champions Germany whose trademark defensive style was tested in a tight fight with Pakistan, whose flair-filled attacks won deafening cheers from their thousands of supporters.

Top-ranked Germany spent little time in attacking territory but a couple of crosses found safe sticks that knocked the balls into goal to take the game 2-1.

But it could all have been very different if Pakistan’s star striker Sohail Abbas had been on form rather than shooting their two short corners high and wide.

Much modern hockey relies on power play and penalties but Pakistan and India displayed the skillful stickwork they are known for and won plenty of opportunities that were belied by the final scorelines.

India’s Dhanraj Pillay, playing his fourth and final Olympics, picked holes in the Dutch defense, finding space between their legs and nipping the ball into line with the tip of his stick to the delight of the crowd.

But most of the runs stopped short of the goalmouth and once the Dutch found their stride, the defending champions thundered past the Indian defense and took the match 3-1.

“I’m upset that we didn’t score more but everybody played well and we’ll come back,” said Gagan Singh, who scored two minutes before the end after missing four shots at goal.

India now meet South Africa, who served up a surprise 2-1 win against Argentina thanks to strong circle defending against flick specialist Jorge Lombi and two speedy goals by Greg Nicol. “We’re rated 11th out of 12 competitors so there’s no pressure. We’ll play like true underdogs — we’ll fight and bite and scratch to win,” said captain Craig Jackson.

In the other matches of the day, fourth-ranked Korea were disappointed with a 1-1 draw against Spain while Britain shot past Egypt 3-1.