JAKARTA: India shattered Pakistan’s hopes for a bronze medal with a 2-1 victory in a classification match for third position during the Asian Game 2018 Hockey Tournament at Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex here on Saturday. This was India’s third bronze medal in the Asiad while Pakistan finished out of the medal bracket only for the second time in the Asiad, after 2002. Both teams had won all their five pool games with big margins. But they perished in the semifinals. India lost to Malaysia who Pakistan had beaten 4-1 in the pool while Pakistan went down to Japan who India had trounced 8-0. For the houseful crowd, though, it didn’t matter and the teams, true to their reputation, played out perhaps the best match of the competition. With India and Pakistan, the performance is as important as the result. There can be no dull periods, no defensive play and no holding back, regardless of the situation. It results in exciting, non-stop action for 60 minutes with fortunes changing as quickly as ball possession. Akashdeep Singh scored a field goal in the third minute and gave his team an early lead which Pakistan had a hard time catching up on. India’s advantage was doubled when Harmanpreet Singh scored another goal off a penalty corner in the 50th minute. Muhammad Ateeq managed to reduce the margin for Pakistan in the 52nd minute, however, the game was lost by that time. Looking for the equaliser, Pakistan threw players up front and also withdrew goal keeper for an outfielder. India found gaps and thrice entered the Pakistan circle but failed to increase the lead. India had 15 shots at goal compared to 14 for Pakistan. India had two penalty corners to Pakistan’s three. The goalkeepers from both sides were kept busy and the defence stretched. Pakistan coach Roelant Oltmans was satisfied too with the way his team kept their structure and created chances in the second and third quarters. Pakistan captain Rizwan Senior said India were lucky to win, but his team were getting closer. Japan qualify for Tokyo Olympics 2020: History was made on Saturday when Japan won their first-ever Asian Games gold medal after beating Malaysia. The Speedy Tigers, who were leading 5-2 at one point, lost on penalties after drawing 6-6 in regular time at the GBK Sports Complex. Stephen van Huizen’s team raced to a 3-1 lead in the first quarter, with Razie Rahim’s penalty corner goal and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin’s brace sandwiching Seren Tanaka’s goal. In the second quarter, Faizal Saari increased Malaysia’s lead in the 17th minute before Kenta Tanaka pegged one back for Japan. After a quiet third quarter, the floodgates reopened in the final 15 minutes with Kentaro Fukuda striking twice in between Amirol Aideed’s 49th minute penalty corner goal, before Koji Yamasaki equalised for Japan. Razie thought he had won it for Malaysia with his second penalty corner goal of the night in the 58th minute, but Hiromasa Ochiai sent the match into extra time in the dying seconds. Malaysia, who beat defending champions India on penalties two days ago, were unable to repeat the feat and lost 3-1 in the penalty shootout to equal their best achievement of winning silver in 2010. As for Japan, coupled with their women’s hockey team’s 2-1 against India on Friday, they became the second nation to win both hockey gold medals at the same Asian Games since South Korea in 1986 and 1994. Published in Daily Times, September 2nd 2018.