KARACHI: After suffering a 2-1 humiliaton at the hands of Great Britain in the quarter-final of the Hockey World League Semi-final at Antwerp on Wednesday, Pakistan plays Ireland in the classification match for the 5th-8th position on Friday.

According to information available here, Malaysia is slated to face France in another match for the 5th-8th position.

The winners of both the matches will be up against each other for the 5th-6th positions while the losers will fight for the 7th-8th spots on Sunday, the concluding day of the event.

The quartet comprising world champions Australia, world number five Great Britain, Asian champions India and European championship runners-up Belgium have already stormed into the last four.

Australia takes on Great Britain while India meets Belgium in the two semi-finals to be played on Friday.

Thursday was a rest day in the competition.

Once considered as a force to be reckoned with in field hockey, Pakistan are now required to win their next two fixtures in order to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

It is pertinent to mention that despite winning back-to-back silver medals in the Asian Games and Champions Trophy, Pakistan has been ranked 10th in the world, one rank below India.

Former Olympians have been quite critical of the team’s display in Antwerp and are keeping their fingers crossed about the fate of the greenshirts at the HWL event.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2015

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