An elite field hockey player died after being hit in the head by a ball in a weekend club match in Australia, Hockey Australia said Monday. Elizabeth Watkins, 24, was fatally injured while playing for her North Coast Raiders club in a Western Australian State League game in Perth Sunday. Watkins, a former state junior representative, collapsed unconscious when the ball deflected off a stick and hit her on the head, match officials said. Watkins died in an ambulance on the way to hospital after attempts were made to revive her at the ground, officials said. Hockey Australia chief executive Mark Anderson expressed his organization's support and sympathies to the Watkins family. “(Field) Hockey is a sport that is known for its strong sense of community. I know that members of our two national teams and players involved at all levels of our sport are saddened by this tragic event,” Anderson said in a statement. “The Kookaburras (men's national team) wore black arm bands in the final of the London International Invitational Hockey Tournament overnight out of respect for Lizzie and her family,” he said. Britain beats Argentina A week overshadowed by an off-field political ‘hockey row' between the British and Argentine governments ended with a bruising 2-0 victory for the British women over their South American counterparts in the London 2012 test event final at the Olympic Park Sunday. Crista Cullen scored two second-half penalty corners but went off injured immediately after the second with an ankle problem. South Korea edged China 3-2 in the bronze playoff. In the men's event, Germany beat Australia 5-2 in the final, having defeated the world No. 1 3-2 earlier, while Britain beat India 2-1 in the bronze playoff after a 4-2 win over the Indians in pool play.
