DOHA, Dec 6: Pakistan overcame the absence of captain Rehan Butt through injury to pound Hong Kong 10-1 in the Asian Games men's field hockey here on Wednesday.

In another group A match, Malaysia hit back twice to force a 2-2 draw on Japan at the Al Rayyan stadium.

Muhammad Imran hit in three penalty corners and Mohammad Zubair and Muhammad Waqas scored two field goals each as Pakistan ran up a 8-1 lead at half-time.

Butt, given the task of leading a new-look team after five seniors, including captain Mohammad Saqlain and Sohail Abbas were sacked, broke a finger in his right hand during Monday's 1-1 draw against Malaysia.

Chief coach Shahnaz Sheikh said the star striker will also miss Saturday's match against Taiwan but he hoped Butt will be available for the key game against Japan on Sunday.

“We are fortunate Rehan only had to miss matches against minor teams and we look forward to having him back against Japan,” said Shahnaz.

“This is a new team and we need Rehan's experience but I am glad the young boys came out strongly against Hong Kong.

“We did not have the start we needed in the tournament after drawing against Malaysia, but I am confident we will continue to improve.

“Our first target is to reach the final.”Both finalists in the men and women events in Doha will earn direct spots in the 2008 Beijing Games, according to the new qualifying rules of the International Hockey Federation.

If China finishes among the top two, the third-placed team will make the trip to Beijing.

Pakistan are drawn in group A here with Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan where the top two teams will qualify for the semi-finals.

Group B has defending champions South Korea, India, China, Bangladesh and Oman.

Shakeel Abbasi, who led in Butt's absence, scored the goal of the match with a reverse flick. Tariq Aziz and Imran Warsi were Pakistan's other goal getters.

Arif Ali, one of the four Ali brothers in the Hong Kong team, netted one for his team who had lost to debutants Taiwan 1-0 in their first match.

Malaysia emerged unbeaten from the two toughest matches in the group against Pakistan and Japan to stay in the semi-final race with easier games ahead against Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Japan took the lead in the ninth minute through Takahiko Yamabori's penalty corner before Chua Boon Huat drew level for Malaysia three minutes before the interval.

Yamabori scored once more in the 43rd minute with a field goal, only to see Nabil Abdullah equalise for the Malaysians four minutes later.

“We needed to play well today and I felt good scoring my team's first goal that helped us fight back,” said Chua.

“We were determined not to lose our first two games and we did that. We will now be looking to win our remaining two games and qualify.”Japan's scorer Yamabori said his team should score more goals from penalty corners.

“The game is drawn and we have to move on,” he said. “We had seven penalty corners and managed to score only one. We should have done better. The game against Pakistan will now be vital.”—AFP