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| December 13, 2006 | Wednesday | Ziqa'ad 21, 1427 |
China shock Pakistan to enter hockey final
DOHA, Dec 12: Giant-killers China conjured a great escape to enter their maiden Asian Games men's hockey final with a thrilling 2-1 win over Pakistan here on Tuesday.
Lu Fengui scored a golden goal in the 10th minute of extra-time following a penalty corner to record China's first ever win over Pakistan in cold and blustery conditions at the Al Rayyan stadium.
China, who knocked out former champions India from the competition with a 3-2 win in the league, forced the game into extra-time with a last-gasp equaliser through Yu Yang.
Yu diverted a penalty corner past goalkeeper Nasir Ahmed a few seconds before the final whistle after Pakistan captain Rehan Butt had put his team ahead in the 20th minute.
The Chinese were outplayed in regulation time, but Pakistan paid dearly for wasting nine penalty corners, including seven in the second half.
The Chinese await the winners of the second semi-final between defending champions South Korea and Japan later on Tuesday in the gold medal clash on Thursday.
With China already assured of a place in the 2008 Olympics as the host nation, Pakistan still have a chance to book an early ticket to Beijing if they win the bronze medal here.
The winner between South Korea and Japan will also qualify directly for the Olympics.
Seven-time Asian Games champions Pakistan had missed a medal for the first time in Asiad history when they finished fourth in Busan four years ago.
They sacked five seniors, including captain Mohammad Saqlain and penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas, for the Doha campaign in a bid to groom a young team for the Olympics.
Pakistan, who won the last of their seven Asian Games titles in Beijing in 1990, have not won a major title since the Shahbaz Ahmed-inspired World Cup triumph in Sydney in 1994.
Meanwhile, India and Malaysia will clash for the 5-6 places on Thursday after easy wins in the classification games.
India built on five penalty corner goals by Vokkaliga Raghunath to whip Taiwan 12-1 while Malaysia beat Bangladesh 6-1.
Hong Kong finished ninth in the 10-nation tournament with a 4-0 win over Oman.—AFP
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