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JOHOR BAHRU: Pakistan junior hockey team kicked off their campaign in the Sultan of Johor Cup 2025 in dominant fashion as they outplayed hosts Malaysia 7-2 here at Taman Daya Stadium on Saturday.
The Green Shirts remained throughout the game, starting with Sufyan Khan, who capitalized on the penalty in the third minute to send one into the nets.
Malaysia fought back in the second quarter as Ammar Qusyairi Halim scored the equalizer in the 20th minute. However, it was Sufyan again who replied in a minute with a goal from another penalty corner.
Following this goal, Pakistan never looked back and scored four quick goals in just five minutes to put them in a decisive position.
The architect of this mastery was Hannan Shahid, starting with a goal in the 30th minute, followed by Nadeem Khan and two goals from Sufyan, who also completed his hat-trick.
Pakistan scored two more goals in the final quarter to seal a thrilling victory.
For the unversed, the tournament, which started in 2011, is a week-long annual U21 international men’s hockey tournament that is held at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium in Malaysia.
The 12th edition of the tournament features six top international teams — Pakistan, Australia, Great Britain, India, Malaysia, and New Zealand.
Great Britain is currently the defending champions, having defeated Australia last year in the final, which was also their fourth title victory in the tournament’s history.
Pakistan will play Great Britain tomorrow, followed by a clash against arch-rivals India on October 14.
Pakistan will play New Zealand on October 15 and will play against Australia on October 17 in their final group stage encounter. The final and classification matches of the tournament will be played on October 18.
Ali Raza, Muhammad Faizan Janjua, Muhammad Sufyan, Muhammad Wasim, Samiullah, Muhammad Nadeem Khan, and Zakaria Hayat Aqeel Ahmed, Muhammad Imad, Abdul Hanan Shahid, Ali Murtaza, Rana Muhammad Walid Ashraf, Hamza Fayyaz, Abdul Qayyum, Muhammad Usman, Ashraf, Basharat Ali, and Muhammad Shaheer.
Yasir Sanawar and Muhammad Hassan
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