Pakistan beat Rio-bound Canada again

IPOH, Malaysia: Pakistan defeated Canada 3-1 to take fifth spot in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament here on Saturday.

The South Asian Games champions had beaten their Rio Olympics-bound rivals by the same margin in their opening encounter last week.

Pakistan started off positively, holding possession and deservingly took the lead in the 11th minute.

They forced a penalty corner and after failing to stop the ball cleanly, it seemed that they had lost the opportunity, but Fareed Ahmed picked up a late pass from Arslan Qadir to beat Antoni Kindler at the far post.

They doubled the lead in the 27th minute. They launched a quick attack from the left and Ajaz Ahmad dived to deflect a cross into the D by teammate Tasawar Abbas.

In the third quarter, Canada stepped up their game and forced four penalty corners but each time they failed to find a way pass Pakistani keeper Imran Butt.

Imran, who was adjudged as the Man of the Match, made a number of crucial stops to retain his side’s lead.

However, he was beaten in the 51st minute by Iain Smythe. A stinging reverse stick hit from top D by Taylor Curran was deflected into goal by Iain.

But any thoughts of a fight-back was quickly put to rest in the 57th minute when Pakistan struck on a penalty corner. Muhammad Arshad’s flick from the top D had the Canadian keeper Antoni Kindler beaten.

Pakistan’s goalkeeper Imran said the tournament was a good preparation for his team before the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. “It was nice to finish on a positive note. We had a slow start but we gradually improved in the tournament. We will now go back home and improve on our weaknesses,” he added.