July 12, 2003	Saturday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 11, 1424

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Pakistan Juniors 3 China 2

KARACHI, July 11: Pakistan Juniors were given another fright by China before winning 3-2 the second game in Pakistan-China friendship hockey series on Friday at Pakistan Steel Mills ground.

Pakistan Juniors, who were given a scare by the Chinese in the opener, had to fight hard throughout the game as their much- vaunted forward-line, which was their major weapon in the first game, was in complete disarray.

The greenshirts seemed to be a disjointed lot in the first half, while the Chinese came with a marked improvement. The kind of show displayed by the Pakistani forwards on Thursday was missing as they failed to score in the first session which ended in a 0-0 deadlock.

Hosts strikers lacked the skill to penetrate the Chinese circle, while they missed whenever they came close to scoring. The half-line, at the same time, lacked coordination, at least in the first half.

The lack of firepower of the Pakistani forwards was evident from the fact that they forced nine short corners in all, but failed to convert execpt one.

China, who got four penalty corners, on the other hand, had far superior conversion skills as they netted both goals through short corners.

China, who were somewhat bothered by the hot weather in the first match, made light of hot and humid conditions to show better cohesion by tormenting the Pakistanis through organized attacks and compact defence.

Akhtar Ali, who scored twice in Pakistan Juniors’ 5-2 win in the first game, took too long to act when he had an opportunity in the 3rd minute. China, playing with a 4-4-2 system instead of 3-3-3-1, took seconds to counter-attack but were thwarted by home team goalkeeper Shakir Munir.

The home side were left cursing themselves when skipper Tariq Aziz could not find the target off the second penalty corner in the 11th minute.

China’s Song Yi, who netted one of the two goals on Thursday, was given a yellow card for rough play in the 19th minute.

The game, however, exploded into life after lemons as both sides invaded each others halves with a blistering pace.

Pakistan Juniors woke up in the second session to score two quick goals within a span of four minutes. They finally broke the ice with penalty corner conversion through Adnan Zakir three minutes into second period.

The hosts were leading 2-0 in the 48th minute with Tariq diverting a Mohammad Imran hit to the goal giving the Chinese goalkeeper Xiang Fe no chance.

The battling Chinese, who were strengthened after their captain Liu Peng recovered from thigh injury to join his teammates, reduced the margin after two minutes which saw Hu Huisen’s hit rattling the woodwork before landing into the goal past Shakir.

The seesaw match continued as Pakistan Juniors went further ahead four minutes later when Asif Bilal netted off a defender’s stick.

But the never-say-die Chinese displayed their prowess, stamina, and South Korean-style fast-flowing hockey hitting back to make it 2-3.

This time Song Yi neatly finished the job off the fourth penalty corner beating Shakir all ends up in the 56th minute.

Akhtar had golden opportunity in the 62nd minute as Xiang Fe came outside his line while the goal was unguarded but delay in action prevented Pakistan Juniors from stretching the lead.

After a day’s rest, China take on Pakistan senior side on July 13 and then on 14 at the same venue.