April 13, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 14, 1427

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Changzhou (China), April 12: Pakistan on Wednesday won its opening match against Canada 1-0 in the 12-nation tournament, being held here to qualify for the hockey World Cup finals.

The solitary goal was secured in the first half of the match by centre forward Shakeel Abbasi. By defeating Canada in Pool-A, Pakistan has won three points. Pakistan will play its second match against Belgium on Thursday.

Twelve teams are participating in the qualifiers and only the top five finishers qualify for the World Cup Finals to be in Germany, from Sept 6-17.

Team manager Saeed Khan said he was satisfied with performance of his team in the first match and hoped that they will win the rest of the matches to be played during the next eight days against Belgium, England, Egypt and Ireland.

The top two teams in groups in A and B pools will gain an automatic qualification for the World Cup while the fifth and final slot will be decided between the third and fourth teams from the two groups. Pool B comprises Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, China, France and New Zealand.

The seven teams that have already confirmed their places in the Finals are Spain, Holland, Australia, Argentina, South Africa, India and hosts Germany.

Results:

Pakistan 1 Canada 0

Belgium 5 Egypt 2

South Korea 2 France 2

New Zealand 4 China 1

England 5 Ireland 1

Japan 1 Malaysia 0

—Agencies