The Pakistan men’s hockey team got over their disappointment of not being able to make the qualification for the FIH Men’s World Cup as they beat Oman 5-2 in the 5th to 8th place play-off match here in the Hero Asia Cup at the GBK Sports Arena on Saturday.
They had lost to Japan in a close encounter earlier in the tournament that put them out of the Super 4s, but they shook off the disappointment to sail through in this match.
Although it was Oman who made an early strike through Rashad Al Fazari in the 11th minute, Pakistan made amends to a slow start as they bettered their attack in the second quarter. Abdul Rana fetched the first goal for their team in the 19th minute converting from a good set play. This goal was followed by Ali Ghazanfar scoring a scoring a fine field goal in the 21st minute.
The Pakistani team went into half time with a comfortable 4-1 lead on the board, with their penalty corner specialist Rizwan Ali scoring two back-to-back goals in the 29th and 30th minute of the match.
Coached by Dutchman Seigfried Aikman, the Pakistani team furthered the lead to 5-1 in the 32nd minute when Moin Shakeel scored from a penalty corner. Oman, not giving up, fought back hard in the last two quarters and even scored a goal in the 44th minute.
It was Aseel Al-Maaini who scored for Oman, narrowing the lead to 2-5 but Pakistan played safe and defended well to ensure they stayed on the winning course in this match and bag the three points.
Hero Man of the Match was awarded to Mubashar Ali of Pakistan.
