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Yoon Sunghoon (R) of South Korea vies for the ball against Muhammad Imran of Pakistan during the first half of their field hockey semi-final match. -AFP Photo
GUANGZHOU: Pakistan goalkeeper Salman Akbar saved the last shot of a penalty shoot-out against South Korea to steer his team into the Asian Games men’s hockey final on Tuesday.
Both teams were locked 1-1 in 70 minutes of regulation time and failed to break the impasse after 15 minutes of extra-time in an absorbing semi-final at the Aoti Hockey Centre.
Waqas Muhammad put Pakistan ahead in the 22nd minute, before Kang Moon-Kyu drew level four minutes into the second session.
When the first five penalty shots produced a 3-3 deadlock, the sudden death rule was applied, which produced even more drama.
Sohail Abbas and Jang Jong-hyun saw their shots saved, but Haseem Khan scored off the next to put Pakistan 4-3 ahead.
Jang Jong-ho stepped in for the next shot amid mounting tension and his feeble push was easily saved by Akbar to carry Pakistan into their first Asiad final since 1990.
“I have never played such a nerve-wrecking game in my life,” said Akbar, a veteran of 300 internationals.
“When the penalties began, my only thought was of my parents back home and I think it is their prayers which helped me and Pakistan win.
“This win will certainly boost our morale for the final.”
Pakistan await the winner of Tuesday’s second semi-final between India and Malaysia in Thursday’s gold medal match.
Pakistan, who won the last of their seven Asian Games gold medals in Beijing in 1990, have not bagged a major title since the World Cup triumph in Sydney in 1994.
Zeeshan Ashraf’s men are desperate to make amends in Guangzhou after finishing an embarrassing last at the World Cup and lowly sixth at the Commonwealth Games this year.
The Koreans had the only penalty corner in the first half, which was wasted, and a swift Pakistani counter-attack saw Waqas pounce on a pass from the left and sound the boards from the top of the circle.
Veteran Abbas, the world’s leading scorer with 312 goals, missed three successive penalty corners early in the second half.
Pakistan were reduced to 10 men when Muhammad Imran was sent off with a yellow card, and the Koreans seized the advantage when Kang pushed the ball in past Akbar to make it 1-1.
South Korea had a chance to seal victory when they earned a penalty corner in extra-time, but Jang’s stinging shot was saved by defender Muhammad Rashid.
The Koreans, whose hopes of bagging a hat-trick of titles ended, will return on Thursday to fight for the bronze medal.
Kudos to the Pakistani team for the rapid turnaround from the recent setbacks. A Pakistan-India final will be classic and opportunity for Greenshirts to make up for the last three losses. Another positive possibility is that Pakistan may not have to go through the humiliating qualifying round to get to the World Cup.
Zindabad Pakistan,our prayers are with you.Inshallah you will do it .
Nayyer
all d best to both pakistani and indians team for their respective matches for gold and bronze.Let's hope that the hockey dominance will back to subcontinent soon.
Well done Pakistan…I've been following your progress and must doff my hat to a job well done.
- Proud Indian
Congrats to Team Pakistan..!!
Well done boys and keep going..!!
True, winning this semi-final is indeed a long awaited breaktrhough. Without taking into account the ultimate result of the final match, we must realise that OUR BOYS ARE COMPETENT, and they can deliver the goods.
SO WHATS REMAINING IS TO IMPROVE THE ADMINISTRATION AND ORGANISATION OF PAKISTAN HOCKEY …. we dont have any dearth of talent in the boys….WE HAVE DEARTH OF CAPABLE ORGANISORS
Who won the other Semi?
Oye final match kb or kis k sath hai ??
Well done Pakistan Hockey Team. Feeling proud to be a Pakistani. Keep it up in final as well. Nation's prayer ans wishes are with you for the final
Thanks to ALLAH…great job green shirts…love u all….Inshallah we will final…
ahmed
Ma'shallah, Well done. We are proud of you. Keep up the good work. Wish you the best for the final. Arshad Moghul, Indiana, USA.
weLL dOne PaKisTAn u pRovEd thAT paKisTAn hOckY stILL AliVE……..!
Wel done Pakistani Shaheen
play with same potential against Malaysia
Heartiest congratulations to Pakistan Hockey Team.May Allah bless us with a Gold Medal in the final of the match (Ameen).Tears roll out in eyes out of joy and Allah is great.Thanks Allah.
Way to go Greenshirts! Our prayers are with you in the final. May Allah (swt) help you to bring honour to the country!!
Allah O Akbar ka nara mar ker Final Khello
INshAAllah PaKISTN WILL WIN
well done…
Alhamdulillah that's the way Pakistanis should live and undoubtedly we are suppose to be the best in every walk of life
Keep it up Pakistan National Hockey team you made us proud.
Gold is yours – Pakistan – You guy can do it – Go for it –
no holding back.
Well Done
Well done SALMAN AKBAR and rest of pakistan team. finally v hav seen pak home in crunch game ater a long time. best of luck in final
well done guys! Boys lets win the finals for Pakistani people who desperatley needs a good news.
After numerous debacles in sports, certainly a good news. Hope our boys do well against Malaysia.Good luck to all, especially to Sohail Abbas.
Moubarak moubarak moubarak long live pakistan
Great News. Well done.
We should thank our players for this win.
At least some one has given us a good news.
well prayers of the whole nation will be with our national team to win a gold. this will be a step toword the reqaining of lost glory of our national game.we all need to give preference to all sports other than cricket and some special attention to Hockey the game in which we have a glorified past
Good work Pakistan, keep it up.
Best of luck for the final.
great new,s after long time from hocky side just go get who,s ever come front of you do the job well done
Bhoth bhoth mubarak ho!!! Well done the Pak boys. May Allah swt grant us success in the final, ameen! PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!!!
pakistan will defeat malaysia in final and win the gold medal (INSHALLAH)
congrats to all who played this nerve wrecking game…
May Allah gives strength to all of us to honour our country with victories.
Pakistan women cricket won the gold medal, hockey team is doing good, pakistan internation crikcet team yougesters are fighting hard against SA with great passion and patriotism that was missing for years now… its good to see goos news comming up all of a sudeen and from nowhere
Well done PAK..
And good luck for the final..Hope return home with the gold medal.
All the best..
CONGRATS ! NOW LOOK OUT FOR THE FINAL AND MAKE SURE PAKISTAN IS SECOND TO NONE…
Well done Paksitan! we are as good as anyonein thw orld, go get the cup boys and bringit home for your people! We are with you all the way.
The way our team played against South Korea is superb and i must say that action is much louder then words.We are waiting for another gold in Hockey after 20 years.
We wish you all the best. Geo Dil Say!
ALHAMDULILAH……… go n get . my all prayers n best wishes r with u . its right time to prove urself …
comon hockey guys, u can bring our second gold!.
Commmmooonnnn!!! i hope they dont get complacent agst malaysia.
Well done. Good news after a long time.
Pakistan forever a champion!
Pakistan Zindabad!
This AG'10 is proving very lucky to Pakistan. A silver in Wushoo which was least expected, a Gold in Women's Cricket, again underdogs surprising the world, a silver in Squash and now yet another achievement by reaching in the Hockey Finals. May Allah bless our team with success. Amen
Great News!
Dil Dil Pakistan!
Stand up for the future champions!
Well done team. What a great play and courage shown to beat asian champs of the past two Asian games. Play with the same vigour and determination in the final our prayers are with you. Gold Medal is for you to take and so is a berth in London 2012.
Good game guys .. lets have some in finalls .. hope to see India and Pakistan and enjoy reall Hockey
Good luck to both teams
Excellent, good work done by Salman Akbar and young Haseem Khan who held their nerves to see Pakistan through. Our best wishes for the team and hope that they will fight for the ultimate glory in the finals as well, it will be icing on the cake, if they thrash India in the final, and they will, inshallah.
Well done Pakistan.Best of luck for FINAL.
excellent performance, play with courage and trust on God. keep in mind all the players, we have to develop our country in every field. BEST OF LUCK FOR NEXT MATCH
This is the result of sincere efforts by management and the team.
Good job done
Congratulation to the team
InshaAllah we will win the Final
great news after a long time… well done guys…hopefully u will do the same in final….may Allah bless pakistan with victory in final against malayshia.
great news after a long time… well done guys…hopefully u will do this in the final against malaysia.
Best of luck!
May Allah give you strength and courage to win the honor for yourself and PAKISTAN. Amin!
Great Victory !! May Pakistani team be the Winner of Final.
Good job done by the Pakistan team. Hope to see them victorious in final against India / Malaysia
Well done, but this not the end of the game! Breathe deeply to keep away any tension and be cool-headed and focussed for the last encounter. it is good that the subcontinent is finding its form again.
Amazing Pakistan!!! Lets have India in the Finals.
Bravo champs
you have made us proud,
Can't wait any longer to see the green flag soaring in the skies of china on top of all nations
Go Pakistan Go, Win it all for Pakistan
Congrats…….. We The Best….Long Live Pakistan……..
Well played..
please win it for Pakistanis
after a long long time……..its a good news……….may be a breakthrough for pakistan hockey
all lovers of pakistan hockey eagerly wait for the final match
all best wishes for all
May you be healthy and strong on the day of final! Well done and keep up the pace!!!
Congrats Pakistan… Well done……… Gold Medal is our …
well done, green shirts! Long live Pakistan, we will win the finals, Inshallah
love u all.
was a great match in our favour after a long time.
Congratulations Pakistan.
Dear all,
Our heartiest Congratulation to Pakistan National Hockey Team and People of Pakistan.
This is great news for us, since long long time always get dishearten news all about Pakistan National Hockey Team, but now ,we pray our great National team to recover their galorious Past.
Wishing the very best success in Final.
well done and keep it up.good luck for final.
ahmed eftekhar
sharjah
Well done Pakistan. Hopefully they will clintch Gold by winning in final as well.
WELL DONE TEAM PAKISTAN, INSHA ALLAH WE WILL WIN THE FINAL, OUR PRAYERS R WID OUR NATIONAL TEAM