Daily Times

LAHORE: After holding defending champions India to a 1-1 draw in their opener, Pakistan put up a dominant performance to crush hosts Indonesia 13-0 in the Asia Cup Hockey Championship at the state-of-the-art GBK Sports Arena in Jakarta on Tuesday. With this win, Pakistan are hoping of making it to the Super 4s stage of the tournament, which is a FIH World Cup qualifier. Getting off to a strong start, Pakistan scored a flurry of goals against hosts Indonesia from quarter to quarter. Rizwan Ali scored thrice in the 15th, 25th and 43rd minutes while Ajaz Ahmad (2nd and 49th min) and Abdul Rana (4th and 17th min) added a brace each. Mubashir Ali (16th min), Ali Shan (19th min), Ali Ghazanfar (35th min), and Moin Shakeel (45th min) scored a goal each in Pakistan’s big win. Pakistan thus moved to the top of the table with four points from this win and a draw.

After the match, Pakistan skipper Umar Bhutta said the win was a confidence booster after Monday’s nervous performance in which his team missed many chances against a young Indian side before managing to hold their nerves and scoring the equaliser with two minutes remaining in the match. “Yesterday’s match was good, we had the chances to win but could not utilize the opportunities we created. Nonetheless, we are here with a young team and a draw against India and a good win against Indonesia is a confidence booster for them,” said the captain. “The team is focused on earning a spot for the World Cup in India. Indonesia is a lower-ranked team, and we tried our best to score as many goals as we could because, in the last game against India, we could not score from the chances we created,” added Bhutta after the big win.

Bangladesh beat Oman: In another match, spirited Bangladesh defeated nemesis Oman 2-1 in their Pool B encounter. It was a sweet victory for the Bangladesh team, as they had lost to Oman 6-2 in the final of the Asian Games qualifier only a fortnight ago. The team stuck to coach Gobinathan Krishnamurthy’s plans, converted from the chances they created and restricted Oman from making potential scoring opportunities. An early sixth-minute goal by Ashraful Islam, through a well-struck penalty corner, set the right momentum for Bangladesh. Even though Oman bounced back with a field goal in the 17th minute through Rashad Al Fazari to equalize 1-1, they could not convert a single goal from the six PCs they created in the match which dented their hopes of a win. Bangladesh, meanwhile, regained the lead in the 40th minute off yet another PC, well-converted by Mohamad Rakibul. They ensured they defended this lead till the final hooter and seal the winning points.