Pakistan thwart Malaysia to set up Junior Asia Cup final with India

SALALAH: Abdul Rehman scored a brilliant hat-trick as Pakistan came from behind to hand a 6-2 thrashing to Malaysia in the Junior Hockey Asia Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

Parabo Tangaraja opened the scoring for Malaysia in the 21st minute to take the lead which lasted until the 42nd minute as Muhammad Safyan fired the equaliser.

Abdul Rehman then struck his first and put the men in green in the lead in the 44th minute but the advantage only lasted a minute as Malaysia equalized.

Abdul Hannan Shahid’s field goal in the 47th minute once again put Pakistan into the lead before Abdul Rehman struck twice in the 48th and 51st minutes to complete his hat-trick and enhanced Pakistan’s dominance.

Arbar Ahmed’s 58th-minute strike proved to be a cherry on top for Pakistan which completed a 6-2 thrashing victory over Malaysia to qualify for the third straight Junior Hockey Asia Cup final and seventh overall.

Pakistan will now face arch-rivals India in the much-anticipated final of the Asian event. Earlier in the first semi-final, India blew away South Korea 9-1 to qualify for the final.

It is worth mentioning here that both Pakistan and India are so far unbeaten in this year’s Junior Hockey Asia Cup.

The arch-rivals also came face to face in the group stage but the enthralling contest failed to conclude a result as they settled for a 1-1 stalemate.

Playing at the Salalah Sports Complex, the Pakistan team defended the Indian attack quite brilliantly in the first quarter which ended without a goal despite men in blue enjoying the bulk of possession.

India took the lead via a penalty corner with Sharad Nand Tiwari flicking the ball in the net to help his team go 1-0 before halftime.

Pakistan, however, unleashed a counterattack in the third quarter and put the Indian defence under pressure.

India won a couple of penalty corners but failed to score. Pakistan, on the other hand, equalized through Ali Basharat, who netted from a close distance to make it 1-1.

The final quarter also witnessed a see-saw contest with both teams battling for a winning goal but the deadlock persisted till the final whistle.

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