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 1Malaysia 4                  China 2Group ‘B’Pakistan 6           Bangladesh 1India 3                 Japan 2