Great Britain recorded an 11-0 victory over Mexico to get off to a superb start in the Olympic hockey qualifying tournament in Santiago.

Simon Mantell (pictured) and brother Richard scored a goal apiece in the first half to give Britain a 2-0 lead at the break.

After the interval Simon Mantell added another as Britain stepped a gear against a team ranked 28th in the world.

Stephen Dick, Richard Alexander, Barry Middleton, Matt Daly (2), Rob Moore, Ashley Jackson and James Tindall also got on the scoresheet as Britain recorded a comprehensive win.

Manager Pete Nicholson said: "It took us a while to get going, but once we did, we were pretty unstoppable.

"We only scored once from our 10 penalty corners though so this is an area which needs improving.

"We're pleased with a good start to the tournament, we don't appear to have picked up any injuries, and we are now looking forward to facing Russia."

But eight-time gold medallists India, one of Britain's closest rivals for the one ticket to Beijing available from this tournament, enjoyed an 8-0 win over Russia.

Prabhjot Singh starred for India by hammering home a fine hat-trick.

But it was Dilip Tirkey who was first on the scoresheet with a 14th minute penalty corner before Prabhjot grabbed his first of the day five minutes later scoring off a pass from Sardar Singh.

On the half-hour mark, India were 3-0 ahead with Prabhjot notching his second before Shivendra Singh made it 4-0 at the interval.

Tushar Khandekar added the fifth as the Russian defence began to wilt early in the second half before Sardar, with his second of the match, VR Raghunath and Prabhjot completed the rout.

India have never missed the Olympics since hockey was introduced as a medal sport in 1928.

Austria and Chile make up the six-nation tournament here which runs until March 9.

Ten teams have already qualified for the Olympic men's competition with the remaining two coming from the qualifying tournament here and the next one in Japan in April.

The automatic qualifiers were Australia (Oceania champions), Belgium (European bronze medallists), Canada (Pan American champions), China (hosts), South Korea (Asian Games winners), the Netherlands (European champions), Pakistan (Asian Games bronze medallists), South Africa (African champions) and Spain (European silver medallists).

New Zealand ensured their berth by winning the qualifying tournament in Auckland.

Sporting Life / AFP