Pakistan beat Korea, finish seventh
-Photo by AFP
LONDON: Pakistan twice fought back from a goal down to defeat South Korea 3-2 and claim seventh place in men’s field hockey at the Olympic Games on Thursday.
The match eventually hinged on a tale of two short corners.
From one of them Muhammad Imran scored with a powerfully flicked shot which hurtled into the top right corner to put Pakistan ahead for the first time with just 10 minutes to go.
From the other, two minutes later, Lee Seung-Il narrowly shot past the post, and it proved an omen, for despite all their subsequent pressure the Koreans could not find the equaliser.
They had looked the more likely winners at half-time, by which time they had taken a 2-1 lead, with both goals coming from the dangerous Hyun Hye-Sung.
The second happened after an almighty scramble and a delay of several minutes to inspect all seven camera angles before it was decided that there had been no fouls and that Hyun’s looped effort had in fact gone in.
The ball had pin-balled around the penalty area, almost going in several times, and eventually only got over the line by about four inches after striking a post.
Pakistan’s first goal came from a fine shot by Waqas Muhammad, and the second by Abdul Haseem Khan, at the third attempt.
New Zealand produced an overwhelming first-half performance in a 3-1 win over Argentina which gave them ninth place.
Three goals within half an hour gave the Kiwis a psychological ascendancy they never really lost, even though Argentina battled hard to make an impression and pulled one back in the second half.
New Zealand had come within one minute of beating Olympic champions Germany in a 10-goal thriller on Tuesday, and began as if they were going to score as prolifically again.
Within three minutes they were ahead, thanks to a Stephen Jenness goal, and they applied steady pressure which brought two penalty corners and increasing expectations.
Another penalty corner after 20 minutes did bring another goal, this time from Richard Petherick, and within another 10 minutes the outcome of the match was already becoming clear when Hugo Inglis scored the third.
Argentina did better in the second half with Pedro Ibarra pulling one back with 12 minutes to go.
Our team played well considering what goes on in the country.hats off to Pakistan players.inshallah one day we will be no 1 again.just need few minor adjustments in the team
This is just a wishfull thinking. With such attitude we cannot win medals. We need performance and we need to steady it. The financial asserts should be spent into sports education and management. I dont see this happening besides in Cricket!
Pl. see spelling of name of shirt No. 11.They are SOAHIL instead of SOHAIL..Such small things also matter and reflect on our team management 's lack of alertnesss and attention to details in an international/widely televised sporting event.
Any comments.
Farooq
Good job Pakistan!!!! We really should have scored at least one goal against Australia….not sure what happened? Maybe next Olympics we will get in the semis…Best of Luck
We require one good chief of Hockey federation, like Noor Khan. Unfourtunately we don't like talent in our organizations, and if we see one rising up through the ranks we make sure that he / she is supressed as soon as possible. People like Noor Khan should have been sitting in top position in sports but we buried him so no one could find him again. He ran 2 organizations ( PHF, PIA) successfuly at a time. You find people like that by luck. But we are unlucky to have lost him.
Today watched Australia vs. Germany. A classic example of ball control & stamina, Germany 4 Australia 2. Pakistan can't play at the level of Germany & Australia. Feel sorry for Sohail Abbas, he probably will retire & he should.
Disappointing as it may be boys have done what they could do. Start preparing for 2016 Brazil Olympic now and produce better result next time. I hope you won't disappoint the nation.
Big deal. This should not even be a News. Now look at the picture and tell me why the Pakistani Player have no leg muscles whereas the Korean player is in much better shape.
Our expectations were too high for 8th ranked Pakistan. Hopefully, this will be a springboard for better finishes and higher rankings in future.