LAHORE: Silver medallists Pakistan failed to book a place in the final of the Asian Games after they lost to Japan in the semifinal by 1-0 on Wednesday.
Japan will now take on Malaysia in the final. For bronze Pakistan will take on India in their last encounter of the Asian Games. Pakistan conceded the only goal of the match in the first quarter and despite several golden moments to score they failed to achieve even an equliser set aside a winner.
Besides that on Thursday Pakistan earned victories in volleyball, squash and baseball but lost in to Hong Kong in their opening Rugby 7s match. Hong Kong got the win through 10 tries score as against one try score from Pakistan.
Coming back to hockey Pakistan were down by one goal in the first quarter against Japan but they gathered on several occasions in the danger zone of Japan but failed to score because of Japan’s perfect defence.
Earlier in the day, Malaysia stunned India in sudden death encounter 7-6 to enter the final. For Malaysia and India, it was a 2-2 deadlock at the end of fourth quarter. The match was then decided on penalty shootout.
India took the lead in the 33rd minute as Harmanpreet Singh scored via penalty corner. Malaysia leveled the scoreline in the 39th minute as Faizal Saari scored a field goal. Varun Kumar put India ahead in the 40th minute as Varun Kumar converted a penalty corner into a goal.
It seemed as if India was close to securing its spot in the final, when Razie Abd Rahim snatched a goal in the 59th minute. Malaysia managed to beat India 7-6 on penalty shootouts to qualify for the finals.
Pakistan won the 7-10 semi-final encounter of the men’s volleyball with a hard-fought win over China after a keenly-contested match 3-2. Pakistan came back in the game twice to claim victory. Having lost in the first game 17-25, Pakistan bounced back to win 28-26. But China kept its nerves to win the following game against 30-28. However, Pakistan spikers maintained their will to win and claimed back to back two games 25-19 and 18-16 to be the ultimate winners.
Yuanbo Li of China scored the most number of aces in the fixture with five. His team mate Liye Li converted 30 spikes into points.Pakistan is placed at No 34 on the medals table with three bronze medals to its name. China, on the other hand, tops the medals table with 229 medals — 108 golds, 70 silvers and 51 bronze medals.
At the Gelora Bung Karno Hall, Pakistan men squash team defeated South Korea 3-0. But the national ladies team lost to Philippines 1-2. Israr Ahmad beat Lee Nyeon by 11-5, 11-4, 11-8. Tayyab Aslam beat Lee Seungteak 11-1, 11-5, 11-8. Muhammad Asim Khan beat Youngjo Ko 11-8, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8. Pakistan women squash team went down to Philippines 1-2.
Pakistan defeated Indonesia 10-2 in Asian Games baseball event on Thursday. Pakistan registered their second win in baseball atthe Games when they stunned hosts Indonesia 10-2 at the Rawamangun Baseball Field.
Taking the upper hand in the game from the start, Pakistan took a 6-2 lead after the sixth innings to keep the momentum going. The tourists extended the lead to beat Indonesia 10-2.
On Tuesday Pakistan won their first game of the baseball event when they defeated Thailand 8-1. Pakistan had earlier lost both their opening games, losing 15-0 to Japan and 16-3 to China. The Green Shirts will next face Hong Kong on Saturday, August 31 in the men’s team consolation round.
