Pakistan ended their campaign at the Hero Asian Champions Trophy with a 5-2 win against Korea, scoring them the bonze Medal here at the Moqi Hockey Training Base in the China Daur Ethnic Park on Tuesday. Goals by Sufyan Khan (38′, 49′), Hannan Shahid (39′, 54′) and Rooman (45′) who scored in Pakistan’s victory while Jungjun Lee (16′), Jihun Yang (40′) scored for Korea. After a poor start, Pakistan, who were handed a disappointing loss in the semifinal by hosts China, made great amends to their game to bounce back in the second half of the match to clinch a thriller.
It was Korea who drew the first blood in the 16th minute when Jungjun Lee made a spectacular tackle to drive past Pakistan’s Hannan Shahid and make space in the top of the circle. He simply lofted the ball into the net, past Pakistan’s goalie Ishtiaq Abdullah Khan.
However, they came back from the 10-minute half-time break with determination and grit to bounce back. It was Hero of the Match Sufyan Khan who struck a splendid penalty corner in the 38th minute to equalise. Breathing life back into their attack, Hannan Shahid, who has displayed great form in this tournament, set up a stupendous field goal in the following minute. Making a fine dribble into the 15m mark, Hannan set up Salman Razzaq to score but his deflection was slightly off the mark but Hannan came up with a fine finish to nudge the ball past Korean goalie Jaehan Kim.
Though Korea equalised in the 40th minute through Jihun Yang’s penalty corner to keep the match in a 2-2 stalemate, it didn’t deter Pakistan’s spirit. They scored a field goal in the 45th minute through Rooman to regain the lead. Putting the Korean attack under pressure, Pakistan did well to come up with structured man-to-man marking in the final quarter to ensure they stay in lead.
Meanwhile, a brilliantly earned penalty corner in the 49th minute was perfectly executed by Pakistan’s ace dragflicker Sufyan, making it his double in the match and taking his personal tally in the tournament to four goals.
In the 54th minute, Hannan converted a stupendous field goal to take Pakistan’s lead to a formidable 5-2. This was Hannan’s sixth goal of the tournament and it was set-up by Rana Waheed Ashraf with a good assist in front of the goal-mouth. With goalie Muneeb Ur-Rehman replacing Ishtiaq in the last quarter, Pakistan defence held sway, did not allow Korea any circle penetration and held on to a well-earned victory.
Hero of the Match, Sufyan Khan of Pakistan said, “We are very happy to finish the tournament on a good note. Definitely, it would have been great if we had won yesterday’s match (against China) and played the final against India today but we made a number of errors. Today, we didn’t start very well but during the half-time break, our Head Coach Tahir Zaman shook us up in his own style and instilled confidence that we can bounce back.”
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