By Our Special Correspondent
A gritty Japan handed the defending champions India their first loss of the Hero Asia Cup here Tuesday. With Japan trouncing India 5-2 in their pool a clash, India will now need to beat hosts Indonesia by a big margin and expect a favorable result in the Pakistan-Japan game on Thursday to stay in contention for a place in the Super 4s.
After holding defending champions India to a 1-1 draw thanks to a late goal, Pakistan put up a dominant performance to thrash hosts Indonesia 13-0 win in the Asia Cup hockey championship at the state-of-the-art GBK Sports Arena.
Rizwan Ali scored thrice in the 15th, 25th and 43rd minutes while Ajaz Ahmad (2′, 49′) and Abdul Rana (4′, 17′) added a brace each. Mubashir Ali (16′), Ali Shan (19′), Ali Ghazanfar (35′), and Moin Shakeel (45′) scored a goal each in Pakistan’s big win.
Pakistan thus moved to the top of the table with four points from a win and a draw while India, who takes on Japan later in the day, has one point. Japan has three points while Indonesia has none as they have lost both their matches.
In another match, a spirited Bangladesh beat nemesis Oman 2-1 in their Pool B encounter. It was a sweet victory for the Bangladesh team, as they had lost to Oman 6-2 in the final of the Asian Games Qualifier only a fortnight ago. The team stuck to coach Gobinathan Krishnamurthy’s plans, converted from the chances they created and restricted Oman from making potential scoring opportunities.
An early sixth-minute goal by Ashraful Islam, through a well-struck penalty corner, set the right momentum for Bangladesh. Even though Oman bounced back with a field goal in the 17th minute through Rashad Al Fazari to equalize 1-1, they could not convert a single goal from the six PCs they created in the match which dented their hopes of a win.
Meanwhile, regained the lead in the 40th minute off yet another PC, well-converted by Md Rakibul. They ensured they defended this lead till the final hooter and seal the winning points.
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