Japan 3 Malaysia 2

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22: Pakistan thrashed China 7-1 on Monday to warm up for Wednesday’s crunch game against archrivals India in the Asia Cup hockey tournament.

With Monday’s victory Pakistan qualified for the semifinals of the competition and the winner of which will automatically be eligible for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Centre forward Kashif Jawad, skipper Nadeem Ahmed and penalty corner striker Sohail Abbas slammed two goals each while Kalid Salim had one goal for Pakistan in an almost empty National Hockey Stadium, Bukit Jalil.

The Chinese skipper Lu Peng got the consolation goal in the second session as Pakistan led 3-0 at the break and blasted four more goals in the second period. Pakistanis had difficulty breaking down the packed defence of the Chinese coached by Pakistan’s Olympian Khwaja Junaid, as they took 18 minutes to open their account.

But the Pakistanis then had little difficulty in opening up the game and finding the net with regular intervals to chalk up second consecutive victory in group B after Sunday’s 8-0 demolition of another minnows Bangladesh on the opening day. Pakistan now have 15 goals with one against from two matches, taking their tally to six points.

However, the emotional clash against Indians will be a matter of honour and prestige for the team which will be carrying the hopes of the entire nation on their shoulders to earn victory against the arch-rivals.

The group A comprises South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Hosts Malaysia are now almost out of the tournament with 3-2 defeat by Japan on Monday.

Whether it is Korea or Japan in the Friday’s semifinal against Pakistan will largely depend on the outcome of Pakistan-India match Wednesday. The final is scheduled for Sunday.

Table Matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Group A

Japan 2 2 0 0 10 5 6

South Korea 1 0 1 0 1 1 1

Malaysia 1 0 1 1 3 4 1

Hong Kong 1 0 0 1 3 7 0

Group B

Pakistan 2 2 0 0 15 1 6

India 1 1 0 0 5 1 3

Bangladesh 1 0 0 1 0 8 0

China 2 0 0 2 2 12 0

—APP