KUANTAN: Haseem Khan scored a fine goal in the last minute of the match to give Pakistan a thrilling 1-0 victory over South Korea in the 4th Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here in the Malaysian city of Kuantan on Friday.
Haseem scored off the fourth penalty corner awarded to his team in the dying moments of the game. Aleem Bilal pushed the ball towards the left side of the goal and Haseem dived to flick the ball in to give Pakistan their first win in the tournament.
Unlike Thursday, when the Greenshirts had lost the opener 2-4 to hosts Malaysia, Pakistan appeared a well-knit outfit right from the outset and matched the Koreans throughout the game.
Haseem’s last-minute goal helps greenshirts get off the mark
Although the 60 minute play saw just one goal scored, there were plenty of exciting moves in the game and saw attacking play from both sides.Pakistani defenders Ejaz and Rizwan Senior through their fast sprints halted the opponents’ penalty corner strikes on as many as seven occasions to earn applause from the crowd.
On Sunday, Pakistan will take on traditional rivals India in the most eagerly awaited game of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Malaysia beat China 5-1 in the other match of the day to take another step towards the semi-finals.
Haziq Samsul scored two penalty corner rebound goals in the sixth and 20th minutes, while the other goals were scored by Fitri Shaari (22nd), Shahril Saabah (37th) and Firhan Ashaari (54th).
China got their consolation off Wang Bowen in the 33rd minute.
Malaysia next play Japan on Sunday.
Published in Dawn October 22nd, 2016
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