Pakistan, India crash out of Asian Champions Trophy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India’s stranglehold on the Asian Champions Trophy came to end as both the defending champions were beaten in the semi-finals in Dhaka (Bangladesh) Tuesday.

Korea edged out Pakistan 6-5 following a tense and exciting clash while Japan overpowered India 5-3 after totally dominating the 50 minutes of play where they were leading 5-1.

Korea’s ace defender Jonghyan Jang struck four goals two each on penalty stroke and penalty corner to snatch victory from Pakistan.

It all started in Pakistan favour as Umar Bhutta’s sizzler from the top of striking circle in the third minute of first semi-final opened up the scoring with Jang adding two in two minutes to put his team in front in the 12th minute of play. Some glaring lapses in the deep defence helped Korea’s case as the team repeatedly got opportunities to have a go at the Pakistan goalpost. Jang first converted a penalty stroke in 11th minute and then followed it up with the penalty corner goal the next minute.

Junaid Manzoor’s field goal ten minutes later again put teams on level terms. Jang again converted a penalty corner three minutes later to give Korea a 3-2 lead. Some exciting moves from there on saw Pakistan picking up momentum and netting the equalizer yet again. Striker Afraz through field efforts struck for Pakistan in 30th minute with Korea also scoring in the same minute on a penalty corner through Yang Jihun to go 4-3 clear at the end of second quarter.

Korea took 5-3 lead in the 44th minute when Jeong Junwoo’s diving attempt defeated Pakistan’s reserve goalkeeper Amjad Ali. Going two goals down Pakistan made several attempts on the Korean goal.

Mubashir Ali who missed the last two matches with injury then came into act, scoring twice on the penalty corner in four minutes at the start of the last quarter to bring Pakistan back in contention.

It was all left to the Player of the Match Jang to make a decisive impact as he struck the winner for Korea four minutes into the final hooter to earn his team a spot in the final. All Pakistan’s efforts to draw level went fruitless due to poor finishing.

In the second semi-finals, Japan stunned India with a 5-3 win. Japan were totally dominating exchanges as they took commanding lead going into the 42nd minute of play. Japan scored their opening two goals at the outset of the match as Yamada converted a penalty stroke with Fujishima Raiki doubling it in the very second minute. India reduced the margin through Dilpreet Singh in the 17th minute. Kirishta Yoshiki (29th minute on penalty stroke), Kawabe Kosei (35th minute) and Ooka Ryoma (41st minutes) struck through field efforts as Japan went 5-1 clear of Olympic bronze medalists.

India went all out in the last minutes, which saw them adding two goals on the penalty corner. Specialist Harmanpreet Singh struck the board in the 53th minute and Hartick Singh netted on an indirect try to reduce the margin 5-3.

Pakistan will now play India for third position playoff while Japan and Korea will be eyeing the Champions Trophy title today (Wednesday).