Pakistan Thrash India to Reach Hockey Final

[Riaz Haq]

Pakistan and India have had two sports encounters this year at major international events in cricket and field hockey. Pakistan have won on both occasions to go on to the the final or semifinal. In September this year, Pakistan beat India in the ICC T20 Champions Trophy group match in South Africa to qualify for the semifinal. And today, Pakistan beat India 6-3 in a Champions Challenge hockey tournament semifinal at Salta, Argentina. These wins are very welcome at a time when Pakistanis need their spirits lifted to deal with the extremely difficult situation at home.


Here's a Times of India report Pakistan-India field hockey encounter today:

SALTA (Argentina): Pakistan beat India 6-3 to set up a final against New Zealand in Champions Challenge hockey tournament on Saturday.

New Zealand held out two-time defending champion and host Argentina 3-2 to reach Sunday's final, where the winner will qualify for the Champions Trophy next July in Moenchengladbach, Germany.

Pakistan took only two minutes to score, through Rehan Butt, who would collect a hat trick in another classic match between the archrivals.

While two Pakistan players were cooling off on cards, India forced a penalty corner and leveled through Dhananjay Mahadik. India continued to enjoy the run of play, but Pakistan nailed its chances with Butt shooting home and Sohail Abbas adding a penalty corner goal for a 3-1 halftime lead.

After the break, India dominated, but its desperation to score left the defense vulnerable, and Haseem Khan's goal against the run of play made it 4-1. There were four goals in the last eight minutes, with Butt claiming his third and Abbas his second. Mahadik also finished with a pair for India.

As in the Pakistan-India semi-final, New Zealand scored quickly, with Andrew Hayward converting a penalty corner to hush the home crowd. Argentina's penalty corner specialist Pedro Ibarra claimed his sixth goal of the tournament to draw level, but just before halftime Phillip Burrows finished a counterattack to send New Zealand ahead into the break.

After Shea McAleese's penalty corner goal 10 minutes into the second half gave New Zealand 3-1, Argentina's attack ramped up but continued to be bottled by the New Zealand defense until four minutes from the end, when Lucas Vila's counterattack field goal gave the home side renewed hope, but without enough time.

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