CHENNAI: Pakistan hockey team concluded their Asian Hockey Champions Trophy journey at fifth position after handing China a thumping 6-1 defeat on Friday.

The Green Shirts started the game on high as they quickly took a 4-0 lead in the first quarter.

Although, China, showed some grit and managed to score their solitary goal in the third quarter but the green-shirts eventually pulled them back and scored two more goals to hand them a heavy defeat by a margin of five goals.

Pakistan’s Mohammad Ammad and Mohammad Sufyan both scored two goals each, while Hanan Shahid and Abdul Rana each scored one goal.

China’s Benhai Chen scored the only goal of the match in the 35th minute through a penalty corner.

This was the first time that the Green Shirts failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy since its inception in 2011.

The national team was knocked out of the Asian Champions Trophy, after facing a daunting 0-4 defeat at the hands of arch-rivals India on Wednesday.

Pakistan’s only victory in the Asian Champions Trophy came against China, which finished at the bottom of the table with one point only.

Prior to that game, Pakistan was winless in the Asian Champions Trophy, as they drew against Japan (3-3), and defending champions South Korea (1-1), while, they were handed a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Malaysia in their first game.

Pakistan ended up with the same points as Japan and South Korea, however, it failed to qualify due to goal difference, as the other two teams progressed to the next round.

South Korea will face Malaysia in the first semi-final today, meanwhile, India will face Japan in the second semi-final on the same day.

Pakistan previously won the tournament in 2012 and 2013, while they shared the trophy with India in 2018 as the final was forfeited due to persistent rain. Meanwhile, India have won the title in 2011 and 2016.

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