KARACHI, April 20: Pakistan got off to a flying start at Junior Asia Cup hockey with a thumping 9-0 victory over lowly-ranked Singapore thanks to a four-goal onslaught by Imran Warsi on Tuesday.

Altogether hosts forced no less than 12 penalty corners but could convert only four through Imran as the ball could not be stopped properly at least four times because of what Pakistan coach Asif Bajwa said "dryness of the Hockey Club of Pakistan pitch."

"We failed to take advantage of short corners as the ball did not stop properly since the turf dried up quickly," Asif said at a post-match press conference. Singapore coach Ronnie Yeo said his side conceded so many goals since it failed to contain the opposition from taking short corners.

"Our aim was to stop Pakistan from forcing penalty corners in which we unfortunately failed. Pakistan could have forced more short corners but the ball did not stop on number of occasion. "And because of that we didn't concede more goals. To be realistic we aim to be among top eight in the tournament," he said.

Pakistan came near scoring in the 6th minute but Mahmood Ali took too long to act off a Adnan Zakir pass which gave Singapore goalkeeper Salim Zulkarnain ample time to avert danger. Imran poached his first in the 14th minute with a perfect along-the-carpet drag-flick to open the floodgates. The full-back was, however, denied by Zulkarnain four minutes later, the custodian punching Imran strike to safety.

Adnan did connect a Tariq Aziz cross in the 21st minute only to see ball trickling down the right to cross the back-line. Although Pakistan were relying heavily on their new captain Shakeel Abbasi, a senior team forward, could not yield desired results. Instead Tariq, demoted as vice-captain, doubled the lead after being set up by Kashif Yaqoob in the 25th minute.

Two quickfire goals before breather helped Pakistan surge 4-0 as influential forward Yasir Islam came into action in 31st minute, while Imran got his second a minute before lemons.

Zulkarnain thwarted a Imran try four minutes into session but had no answer to an opportunist Tariq effort off a rebound which made it 5-0. Singapore paid dearly for a foul in the 57th minute during a Yasir strike as umpire Chen De Kang signalled for a penalty stroke which was calmly converted by Imran Warsi.

Miseries of the Singaporeans were not yet over as Imran slammed home for his fourth goal in the 65th minute followed by strike from an unmarked Akhtar Ali off a Tariq cross in the 68th minute.

Kashif hammered the last nail in Singapore's coffin with a reverse flick seconds before final whistle. China fought back from two goals down in the second half to force a 2-2 draw against Bangladesh.

Bangladesh opened their account through Mamunur Rehman in the 30th minute. Captain Ashraf-ul-Islam extended the lead a minute before halftime. Chinese showed great resilience by striking through Ao Laixang in the 42nd minute and Ji Mi in the 54th minute.

Malaysia registered a convincing 6-0 win over Sri Lanka, netting three goals in each half. Mohamad Nasir's strike in the 21st minute gave Malaysians a fine start, Mohd Rejab got the second in the 27th minute, while Engku Mohammad made it 3-0 in the 30th minute on penalty stroke.

Two back-to-back goals from Abdul Jalil in the 45th and 46th minutes and Abu Ismail completed the tally in the 64th minute. Japan whipped Chinese Taipei 7-1 in another one-side affair. Noda Hiroto and Kubo Hiroyuki were on target in the 7th and 19th minutes, while Chinese Taipei got consolation through penalty stroke converted by Yao-Wen Shih in the 26th minute.

Nishimura Yasuaki (40th, 42nd minutes), Okazaki Taichi (51st minute) Ito Takashi (52nd minute), and Kayukawa Koji (67th minute) completed the rout.

Wednesday's fixtures: