Pakistan to clash India in hockey tournament final
Pakistan Times Sports Desk

LAHORE: Pakistan thrashed Japan 7-0 and India beat South Africa 3-0 and both set a showdown in the final of the UBL 4-Nation junior hockey tournament here on Saturday at National stadium.

Pakistan riding on a crest of success in the week long tournament with four victories in a row have emerged as a hot favourite to win the title. The home side led the first half 3-0 against Japan whom they beat for the second successive time.

The Green-shirts were on aggression in both halves of the game and their penetrating moves from both flanks coupled with mid field attacks kept their opponents under constant pressure.

But one factor which was alarming ahead of the final was the poor conversion of home team off short corner as they converted one out of five of the play. Japanese side lacking basic conversion drills lost all of their six penalty corners.

Imran Warsi fast coming up as a penalty corner shooter, translated the first in the 3rd minute to give his side 1-0 lead in the 17th minute. Pakistan jolted their ever-struggling rivals with the addition of two more goals in three minutes.

Captain Shakeel Abbasi setup Yasir Islam with a right side pass who smartly put the ball in the post in the 24th minute and Khalid Mahmood scored a delightful goal with a strong reverse flick.

Pakistan which fully concentrated on engineering moves and generating attacks through mid field made it 4-0 in the 45th minute when Tariq Aziz sounded the boards after connecting a left side pass from Muhammad Akhtar.

Misery was not yet over for the Japanese side which found it hard  to stop the speedy moves of the Pakistani juniors who were all out to score the biggest margin win of the tournament.

Pakistan's 5th goal was the result of a right side move in which Abbasi again shone to coordinate Muhammad Arif who was all set to guide the ball into the post with a swift shot in the 57th minute.

Pakistan fully exposed the rivals defence by hammering two goals in three minutes, Tariq scoring his second goal in the 65th minute and Akhtar after beating a couple of defenders was right in front of the goal to beat the onrushing goalkeeper with a calculated shot in the 67th minute.

In the other semi final, India scored their all the three field goals in the first half and found a strong opponent in South Africa in the second half in which they failed to enhance the lead.

India disappointed through their poor finish and coordination when they took their 9 penalty corners through direct or indirect drills. South Africa got one short corner.

India's scorers were Vickram Kanath (6th minute),Birendar Lakra (25th minute) and Ajitesh Roy (32nd minute). The final will be played today (Sunday) at 3 pm while Japan will take on South Africa in a third place match at 12 noon.●