GUANGZHOU, Nov 21: Shakeel Abbasi, Sohail Abbas and Mohammad Imran pumped in two goals each to help Pakistan defeat minnows Bangladesh 6-1 and reached the semi-finals of the Asian Games hockey event.
The match was played here at the Aoti Field Hockey Stadium on Sunday.
The green-shirts with nine points finished behind India which topped Group `B` with 12 points.
Pakistan will now face South Korea, which whipped Singapore 12-1 in their last league match to top Malaysia on goal difference, in the semi-final.
South Korea is seeking a hat-trick of titles after winning golds in 2002 and 2006.
Malaysia, needing a draw against China to join South Korea from Group `A`, fought off a determined challenge from the hosts before securing a 4-2 victory.
They will clash with India in the other semi-final.
During the 70-minute encounter, Pakistan displayed average performance as drag-flicker and penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas and centre-half Waseem Ahmad were not passing the ball in a better fashion to the forward line while Mohammad Waqas, Mohammad Fareed, Shakeel Abbasi and Rehan Butt failed to convert few open chances into goals. Dawn
“It`s not about scoring a number of goals against the low-ranked teams, instead, all we wanted was to play better hockey and our target is to defeat South Korea in the semi-final, scheduled to be held on Tuesday,” Khawaja Junaid, Pakistan`s assistant coach told .
It was forward Shakeel Abbasi`s reverse flick which edged past Bangladesh goalkeeper Mohammed Zahid Hossain in the 13th minute to open scoring for Pakistan.
Sohail Abbas, who failed to score a single goal against arch-rivals India, scored two goals on penalty-corners in 15th and 29th minutes of the match.
Shakeel scored another goal in the 27th minute with a superb run down the middle when he dribbled past three defenders and beat the advancing goalkeeper.
Pakistan were enjoying 4-0 lead at the half-time.
Mohammad Imran converted two penalty-corners in the 37th and 48th minutes to take the score to 6-0.
Bangladesh scored its lone goal just six minutes before the closing time as Taposh Barmon took advantage of Pakistan goalkeeper Salman Akbar`s lethargic defence.
Results: Group ‘A’ South Korea 12 Singapore 1 Malaysia 4 China 2 Group ‘B’ Pakistan 6 Bangladesh 1 India 3 Japan 2
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