BUSAN, Oct 6: Seven-time champions Pakistan scored a handsome 6-1 victory over Malaysia to set up a semifinal clash with defending champions India in the Asian Games men’s hockey Sunday.

Malaysia, who lost tamely at the Gangseo stadium, will take on Group A winners South Korea in the other semi-final.

Mudassir Ali (2), Kashif Jawwad (2), Mohammad Nadeem and Khalid Salim found the net for Pakistan, who played the entertaining brand of hockey that they are known for. Captain K. Shanmuganathan reduced the margin for Malaysia.

The turf was wet and slow owing to a continuous drizzle since early morning, but Pakistan started positively to knock in two goals in the first two minutes.

Midfielder Mohammad Sarwar and Mohammad Waseem fed the attack-line well as Pakistan went 4-0 up by the 22nd minute.

The score was 4-1 at half-time, after which Pakistan took it a little easy.

Pakistan coach Tahir Zaman said his team showed no weaknesses against Malaysia.

“It was important to play well and win with a good margin going into the semifinals,” Zaman said. “Our morale is high and there doesn’t seem to be any major weakness in our side.”

Malaysian coach Paul Lissek was not disappointed with his team’s loss.

“We’re not ashamed at losing so easily to Pakistan. Ours is a young team and the current rebuilding process will do us good in the coming years. We now hope to do well in our semifinal against South Korea,” Lissek said.

In a match of little consequence in the same group, China defeated Bangladesh 3-2.

Hu Hui Ren, Ren Baode and Yu Yang were the marksmen for China, who had the better of the exchanges but did not dominate the match as expected.

For Bangladesh, Musa Mia scored both goals in the second session, the first a penalty stroke conversion and the second a field goal.

Mia, Ashiquz Zaman and Ariful Huq played well upfront for Bangladesh, but breaking into the circle was a problem for them in the first-half.

China finished their league engagements with three points, having earlier lost 8-3 to Pakistan and 3-2 to Malaysia.

Bangladesh lost all three matches, going down 6-1 to Malaysia and 0-9 to Pakistan. Earlier in a Group A match, Japan overcame Hong Kong 4-3.

Toshiaki Fakuda struck twice while Kazuo Yoshida (penalty stroke) and Naoya Iwadate were the other marksmen for the winners. Swalikh Mohammad, Arif Ali and Farooq Saeed scored for the losers.

Japan ran into a gritty opposition that had struggled in previous matches. Hong Kong surprised by going 2-1 up early in the second session, but Japan came back strongly to seal their win.

Japan have now beaten Hong Kong on all seven occasions that they have clashed in the Asian Games.

The semifinals are scheduled for Thursday and the final for next Saturday.—AFP

Japan 4 Hong Kong 3

Pakistan 6 Malaysia 1

China 3 Bangladesh 2