Ice hockey-Injured US star Decker out of Beijing Games

The U.S. women's ice hockey team will be without assistant captain Brianna Decker for the rest of the Beijing Winter Games after she suffered an injury on the opening night of Olympic competition on Thursday.

Decker's third Olympic appearance lasted only a few minutes as she was left screaming in pain after a collision with an opposition player behind the net.

She left the ice on a stretcher and will take no further part in the Games due to a "lower-body injury", Team USA said.

Captain Kendall Coyne Schofield described Decker's collision as "awful".

"It is a tough loss, especially so early in this tournament," Kessel said on Team USA's official website.

The United States are the defending Olympic champions.

(Reporting by Andrew Both in Adelaide; Editing by Peter Rutherford)