MUSCAT, AUG 30
Pakistan beat India 5-4 in a nail-biting contest of Men’s Hockey5s Asia Cup in Salalah on Wednesday.
With their third straight win in the Elite group, Pakistan cemented their place on the top of the table with nine points from three matches. Although Malaysia also have nine points from three matches, Pakistan command a superior goal difference (35) compared to Malaysia’s 25.
Pakistan’s goal rush against Japan (26-1) helped them in leading the charts. In their second match on Wednesday, Pakistan thumped Bangladesh 15-6.
At the Sultan Qaboos Youth Centre hockey turf, Pakistan surged ahead in the opening minutes when star striker Arshad Liaqat struck back to back goals in second and third minutes.
Zikriya Hayat stunned the Indians with a third goal in the fifth minute as Pakistan took a 3-0 lead.
India tried to come back into the match but their moves lacked precision. Finally, Gurjot Singh broke the shackles to score India’s first goal in the 12th minute.
Pakistan, who controlled the game, then struck another goal through Abdul Rehman to push India at 4-1 in the next minute itself.
Pakistan led at half-time 4-1.
In the second-half, India showed a more organised performance much to the relief of the sizeable supporters gathered at the Salalah stadium.
Maninder Singh reduced the deficit in the 17th minute to 4-2.
Mohammed Raheel hit the target in the 21st minute to make it 4-3 for India.
Rana Abdul then struck a crucial goal in the 26th minute to keep the match beyond India’s reach at 5-3.
India earned a ‘Challenge’ in the final stages and Maninder Singh was successful in his attempt with the score at 5-4.
India, with two wins and a defeat, are third with six points in the group.
India started with a 15-1 thrashing of Bangladesh on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, India outclassed Oman 12-2 to post their second win.
Mohammed Raheel, Maninder Singh and Pawan Rajbhar scored three goals each. Jugraj Singh netted a brace while Sukhvinder also entered the scoresheets to complete India’s 12 goals.
For the hosts, Fahad al Lawati and Rashad al Fazari were on target.
MALAYSIA SHINE
Earlier, Malaysia earned their third straight win.
Malaysia now have nine points from three matches. They beat hosts Oman 10-4 in their opening match late on Tuesday.
In the second match on Wednesday, Malaysia were too good for Japan as they prevailed 18-2. Malaysians led 9-2 at the break.
In their next match, Malaysia outclassed Bangladesh 10-5 to go top of the Elite group temporarily.
IRAN ON TOP
In the Challenger group, Iran raced to the top of the table with their third consecutive win.
Iran started with their opening 7-2 win against Hong Kong on Tuesday.
They continued the form on Wednesday, edging out Indonesia 5-3 in the morning and later outsmarting Kazakhstan 12-8 in the evening.
In other matches, Kazakhstan thumped Afghanistan 19-3 and Hong Kong beat Afghanistan 12-7 in the Challenger group.
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