Pakistan face China in Asian Champions Trophy semifinal today

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan are looking forward to a repeat of the league match performance against highly impressive China when the two teams clash in the first Asian Champions Trophy Hockey semi-finals at the Moqi Centre Hulun Buir (China) on Monday (today).

Pakistan thrashed China 5-1 in the league encounter with the host country bouncing back strongly to tame Japan and earn a place in the semi-finals.

The news coming out of China suggests that Pakistan will play with a changed strategy with more stress on going all out for goals at the outset of the first semis to be played at 1 pm (PST).

Abu Bakar has been advised complete rest for the next two months due to a twisted ankle.

“He cannot participate or train for the next two months. He has a serious injury and doctors advised him complete rest for two months after which his injury will be reassessed. He is currently on crutches,” an official confirmed to The News. He admitted that injury came as a big shock for Pakistan but the team is determined to make the best efforts to win the remaining two matches. “Abu Bakar’s injury and Ghazanfar Ali’s father’s death were shocking news, yet the team is determined to make the best of efforts to win the next two matches to lift the Champions Trophy,” a team management official said.

The hopes in the semifinal for the Greenshirts rest on the shoulders of fast-moving Hanan Shahid, Nadeem Ahmad, Ijaz Ahmad, and Ghazanfar while Mohammad Sufian’s drag flick will also be an important factor.

“We have trained hard to get maximum out of penalty corners against China on Monday,” a team official when contacted said. “We had some problems getting goals on PC which we want to improve going into the knockout stages. We have worked on it,” the official added.

In the other semifinal, India and Korea will play for a place in the final. Korea are expected to use defensive tactics against the highly ranked India team which has the services of penalty corner specialist Harmanpreet Sigh. The ace striker scored a brace against Pakistan to save his team’s blushes in a game that was mostly dominated by the Greenshirts.