LAHORE: Pakistan lost to Japan 7-5 in a thriller of a play-off match for fifth position in the Asian Hockey Qualifiers for the Youth Olympics in Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday. With just two minutes left in the 30-minute match, the two sides were tied at 5-5 but the Japanese boys scored twice to emerge 7-5 victors and thus finished fifth in the 11-team event. For Pakistan, Murtaza Yaqoob scored two goals while Zulqurnain, Muhammad Waqas and Mohsin Khan scoring one goal each. Yaqoob, with his 13 goals, ended as Pakistan’s top scorer in the tournament. Pakistan drew their first match of the tournament against Chinese Taipei 3-3 before following it up with two big wins. First came a 5-0 win over Singapore, before a crushing and emphatic 20-0 win over Cambodia sent a message to Pakistan’s rivals. However, it wasn’t smooth sailing from then on in as the victory was followed by a 12-1 humiliation at the hands of Malaysia. They then drew 3-3 to end their group campaign in third position in Pool B. A win against Hong Kong took Pakistan into the fifth-place play-off but it wasn’t enough to see them qualify for the Youth Olympics, with Malaysia and India claiming the two spots. Published in Daily Times, April 30th 2018.