18th Asian Games: Pakistan outplay Malaysia 4-1 in hockey

LAHORE: Pakistan hockey team recorded their fourth consecutive win in the ongoing Asian Games after it defeated Malaysia 4-1 on Sunday.

Pakistan maintained its win run to be the leader of its pool by four wins and 12 points while Malaysia is at second place with nine points followed by Bangladesh also with nine points.

However, both the team – Pakistan and Malaysia - have qualified to play the semi-finals after the preliminary round in which Pakistan will now play their last match against Bangladesh on August 28. From the other group India and Korea have made it to the semi-finals.

For Pakistan, Ejaz Ahmed scored two goals while Mubasshir Ali and Mohammad Irfan netted one goal each.Earlier, Pakistan won all their first three matches with big margins - 10-0 against Thailand, 10-0 against Oman and 16-0 against Kazakhstan.

In the other match of the day, Bangladesh beat Thailand 3-1 and will now face Pakistan in its next encounter on Tuesday.Ashraful Islam Rana scored twice as Bangladesh national hockey team secured a place among top six in the Asian Games 2018 after beating Thailand 3-1 in their fourth Pool B match at GBK Hockey Field in Jakarta on Sunday. After an average start and a goalless opening half, Bangladesh appeared as a different force in the third quarter with rising drag-flick specialist Ashraful successfully converting their first two penalty-corners before Milon Hossain added another in the last quarter.

India on the other hand also maintained its win run in the Games with its fourth consecutive win, beating Korea 5-3 in a competitive manner. India has been on a phenomenal run in the tournament so far, winning all the games it has played so far. Having beaten host Indonesia with a record-breaking score of 17-0 in the opening game, followed by a another big 26-0 drubbing of Hong Kong and a 8-0 win over Japan.