Pakistan set up India final in Asian Champions Trophy [The Nation] 30 Oct, 2016
KUANTAN - Pakistan avenged their group-match defeat against Malaysia when it counted the most in the semi-final of the Asian Champions Trophy match and will now face arch-rivals India in the final on Sunday.
In the semi-final, Malaysia opened the scoring when they converted their first penalty corner courtesy Shahril Saabah’s drag in the 18th minute.Abdul Khan then rose to the occasion and tucked in from a deflection in the 34th minute to bring Pakistan on level terms. The match went into a shoot-out where Pakistani goal keeper denied Malaysia the chance to score on three different occasions. The final score on shoot-out was 4-2 as Pakistani players celebrated their entry into the final against India.In the shootout, only the first two attempts for Malaysia by Firhan Ashari and and Faizal Saari were converted, while Faiz Jali, Shahril Saabah and Fitri Saari all faltered.Only four shots were taken for Pakistan as Abdul Khan, Muhammad Ifran Jr and Muhammad Arslan Qadir shot on target, while only Muhammad Rizwan Sr failed on his attempt. As they had already taken a winning lead, the fifth Pakistan shot was not required.Pakistan head coach Khawaja Janaid said this on Pakistan’s victory: “Penalty shoot-out is anybody’s game. We are very lucky to be in the fourth consecutive final. We had a weak side when we came here.”On facing India in the final, Khawaja said: “Final is a game of nerve. Team who plays good hockey will win. Team who keeps his structure will win.”Earlier in the first semi-final, India also beat Korea on shoot-out to book a berth in the final.Top-ranked India found the young Koreans tough opponents, who bounced back after conceding the initial lead and were in the lead briefly before India got the equaliser in regulation period.Talwinder Singh gave India the initial lead with a field goal in the 15th minute, but the Koreans came back to score through Seo In-Woo’s strike in open play in the 21st and then took the lead from a penalty stroke conversion by Yang Ji-Hun in the 53rd.The match went to shootout after Ramandeep Singh scored made it 2-2 for India in the 55th minute.In the shootout, Sardar Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh and Akashdeep Singh duly scored the first four attempts before Birendra Lakra was obstructed and the resultant penalty stroke was converted by Rupinder to give India all five successful strikes in the shootout. For South Korea, captain Jung Man-Jae, Kim Hyeong-Jin and Lee Jung-Jun faced no problem in converting their attempts.The fourth shot by Bae Jong-Suk was blocked by Sreejesh, but a penalty stroke was awarded for a stick-check by the Indian goalkeeper after Korea asked for a video referral and the resultant stroke was converted by Yang Ji-Hun. It all came down to the last Korean shot and Sreejesh rose to the occasion to deny Lee Dae-Yeol to seal the affair.
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