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| July 1, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1426 |
Pakistan struggle against Chile
KARACHI, June 30: Pakistan managed to avoid an embarrassing draw against lowly-rated Chile when they scored a narrow 2-1 victory in the pool ‘C’ match of the Junior World Cup hockey in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on Thursday.
What was being expected an easy outing, proved a close call for the Pakistanis, the champions of inaugural 1979 edition in France.
After a 3-1 win against yet another minnows Belgium on the opening day on Wednesday, Pakistan ended the match against hockey’s non-entity Chile, with a slender margin triumph which, however, gave them full points.
According to information available, Pakistan had to toil for full 32 minutes for the opening goal which came through Yasir Islam.
Pakistani penalty corner expert Mohammad Imran, who was instrumental in victory over Belgians with two goals, found the target a minute before going for lemons.
While Pakistan failed to add more goals after re-start, Chile, who were thrashed 12-0 by Australia on Thursday, stunned the green shirts with a Kannegiesser Thomas goal in the 49th minute.
In other matches of the day, Australia outplayed Belgium 7-1, England handed a crushing 12-0 defeat to Mexico, while South Korea beat Spain 3-1.
It will be a different ball game altogether when Pakistan meet Australia in the toughest encounter on Saturday. Friday will be the rest day.
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