September 07, 2007	Friday	Sha'aban 24, 1428

CHENNAI, Sept 6: Japan advanced to the semi-finals of the hockey Asia Cup on Thursday with a runaway 8-0 victory over Singapore.

Japan’s victory eliminated three-time winners Pakistan from semi-final contention.

Skipper Yamabori Takshiko’s hat-trick was the feature of Japan’s win that boosted their points tally to nine from four matches and secured them the second spot in Pool ‘A’ behind Malaysia, who topped the group with 10 points.

Pakistan finished with seven points after being held to a 3-3 draw by Malaysia on Wednesday, when they squandered a 3-0 halftime lead.

Japan’s opponent in Saturday’s semi-final will be defending champions India, who topped Pool ‘B’ by winning all of their five matches.

India hammered Thailand 16-0 in the last league outing on Thursday with penalty corner specialist Vokkaliga Raghunath slamming six goals.

Malaysia will take on reigning Asian Games champion South Korea in the other semi-final.

South Korea secured the second semi-final berth from Pool ‘B’ on the basis of a superior goal difference after they were tied at 10 points with China.

South Korea and China both won their top-sided last league matches on Thursday, but China could not overcome the South Korea’s huge advantage in goal difference.

China defeated Sri Lanka 10-2 with Hu Huiren and De Yunze scoring three goals each, while South Korea blanked Bangladesh 8-0. Jang Jong-hyun made four strikes for South Korea.

During the five league outings, South Korea scored 41 goals and conceded eight, while China scored 32 times and conceded six.—AP