GOLD COAST, Australia: After a series of troubles, it was a perfect day for Pakistan hockey here at the Gold Coast Hockey Centre when they recovered from 0-1 down to overwhelm Canada 3-1 and finish at seventh place in the 21st Commonwealth Games men’s hockey competitions here on Friday.
In the seventh and eighth position encounter, James Kirkpatrick put Canada ahead in the first quarter. However, Roelant Oltmans’ boys came back strongly, scoring twice in the third quarter through Mohammad Arslan Qadir and Mubashir Ali Raza before Mohammad Irfan Junior completed the rout with a nice goal towards the end of the game witnessed by a huge crowd.
It means that Pakistan got revenge from Canada for their huge 0-6 loss in their previous outing at the World Hockey League last summer in London.“We took revenge of the same defeat from Canada. It was a good day for us and I am very happy that the boys worked hard to eventually find a win,” Pakistan’s skipper Mohammad Rizwan Senior told ‘The News’ after his team’s well-deserved win.
Rizwan was satisfied with his team’s overall performance in the event.“It was not a bad event for us. Since the start the team kept raising its standard and you see we also held India and England in the process. I am confident that the side will further grow,” Rizwan added.
He credited Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans for the output.“Oltmans’ role has been fantastic. He stayed with us for hardly a few weeks but you see how the team is progressing. Earlier we did not play under a special structure. Oltmans gave us a structure and you will see in the coming days some more improvement,” Rizwan hoped.
The skipper said that Asian Games in Indonesia were their main target.“We are preparing for the Asian Games. It is a very important event for us as winning gold there can put you straight in Olympics which is important,” Rizwan conceded.
Earlier, Canada had a fine start in the first quarter, putting the Pakistanis under terrific pressure through some incisive rallies from both wings.In the seventh minute, Pakistan had come very close to taking the initiative but Mohammad Dilbar could not keep a cross down from the right. Soon afterwards Canada launched a serious attack but Pakistan’s gloveman Imran Butt did a fine job to avert the danger with a diving save.
In the 11th minute, Pakistan got a penalty corner but Canada’s keeper Carter David excellently dealt with Toseeq Arshad’s fine dash. In the 12th minute, James Kirkpatrick provided lead to his side through an excellent field effort. At half-time Canada were leading 1-0.
In the second quarter, Pakistan marshalled their troops with the top management of the team was seen shouting consistently to their brigade. Following a few unsuccessful incisive rallies, Canada inflicted a superb rally but keeper Imran made a solid save. It was again 1-0 in favour of Canada at the end of the second quarter. In the third quarter, Pakistan raised their game with their frontline forcing the oppositions to make mistakes in the area and it happened so when Mohammad Arslan Qadir capitalised on a solid cross to level the score 1-1 in the 34th minute. Pakistan kept the pressure in the meantime and were able to take the lead when Mubashir Ali struck one on penalty corner in the 40th minute.
After a couple of minutes Canada rallied forward but the cross from their left-out could not be intercepted by his fellow striker. Pakistan finished the third quarter with a 2-1 lead.Just after the start of the fourth quarter Imran Butt denied Canada a goal through an acrobatic work. In the following few minutes both sides tried their best to strike but it were again Pakistan which struck through Mohammad Irfan Junior who managed it through a crowded defence in the 57th minute.
Pakistan’s coach Oltmans seemed happy over what his charges achieved in their last game of the ten-nation tournament.“Finally we won,” a smiling Oltmans told ‘The News’ after the match. “You know there is room for improvement in every game and today the team played quite good. In the first quarter Canada had been brilliant as they dominated everything. But the way we came back was fine. Although there were some mistakes by the boys but overall it was a good effort,” Oltmans said.
Meanwhile, it was not a good day for national wrestlers as the two who competed in their respective classes of the freestyle wrestling were exited.After beating Adam Vella of Malta 12-2 in his first bout (pre-quarter-finals) in the 65 kilogramme weight category, Abdul Wahab lost his quarter-final 0-10 to Vincent De Marinis of Canada and had to be bowed out.
In the 97kg Umair Ahmed fell at the first hurdle when he was smacked by Jordon Steen of Canada 0-11 in the quarter-finals.On Saturday (today), the country’s premier grappler and gold medal hope Mohammad Inam will compete in the 86kg pre-quarter-finals against Jayden Lawrence of Australia. Tayyab Raza will play four fights in the 125 kg as the event of this class will be played on single league basis with the top three to claim medals.
Tayyab will begin with his encounter against Sinivie Boltic of Nigeria. It will be followed by his clash against Claude Kouaman Mbianga of Cameroon, Sumit of India and Korey Jarvis of Canada.
Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) Secretary Arshad Sattar on Friday was optimistic about his boys achievements.“I am confident that Inam has a gold chance. If you look at the draws he will face an Indian wrestler in the quarter-final in which chances of Inam’s success are 60 percent,” said Arshad, who is accompanying the squad in Gold Coast as manager.
In Belmont Shooting Centre in Brisbane, after also clearing the second qualifying hurdle with an aggregate total of 571-14X, Pakistani shooter Mohammad Khalil Akhtar could not keep his fine going, finishing at the last sixth place in the finals of the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol with a score of eight.
India’s 15-year old Anish got gold with a total of 30, 20-year old Australia’s Sergei Evglevski finished with the silver with a score of 28 while the bronze went to Sam Gowin of England with 17.
On Saturday (today) Ghufran Adil will compete in the 50m rifle 3 positions qualification round. Aamer Iqbal and Farrukh Nadeem will compete in the qualifying round of the men’s double trap.So far weightlifters Talha Talib and Nooh Dastagir Butt and wrestler Mohammad Bilal have won bronze for the country competing in ten disciplines.