JAKARTA: Having pumped in 45 goals during the group stage, Pakistan couldn’t even get on the scoresheet when the stakes got high.

The hockey team’s run in the Indonesian capital had fuelled hopes that Pakistan would clinch a record-extending ninth Asian Games gold medal. Now, it will have to fight for bronze.

Pakistan were stunned 1-0 by a disciplined Japan in their semi-final on Thursday, with Shota Yamada scoring the decisive goal with a penalty corner conversion in the 18th minute.

Pakistan were expected to clash with India in a classic final but after seeing their arch-rivals, the defending champions, ousted by Malaysia 7-6 in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw, Pakistan produced an insipid performance against the Japanese and registered just four shots on goal.

Japan had been thrashed 8-0 by India in the group stage where Pakistan had humbled Malaysia 4-1.

Japan played with a total defensive scheme against Pakistan at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium Complex, relying only on counterattacks through Kenta Tanaka and Yamada.

In a tight opening, it was Japan who asked all the questions and broke the deadlock when Yamada converted. Ali Shan had come closest to scoring for Pakistan before Yamada’s goal, but his shot went just over.

Japan’s goal came after they began attacking Pakistan from the wings at the start of the second quarter and they neutralised Pakistan completely.

Of the few chances Pakistan created, they were never really able to test Japan goalkeeper Yusuke Tanako and will now play India for third-place on Saturday. The loss also denied Pakistan direct entry to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Malaysia scored a late goal to send their semi-final against India into a shootout.

After Harmanpreet Singh and Varun Kumar had scored from penalty corners in the 33rd and 40th minute, Malaysia struck through Faizal Saari (39th min) and Mohammad Razie, who found the all-important equaliser less than two minutes before the end of regulation time.

India, who had scored a record 76 goals in the group stage, were then left stunned after S. V. Sunil missed his attempt in the sudden death.

VOLLEYBALL THRILLER

Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s volleyball team recorded a thrilling 3-2 victory against China to advance to the seventh-place playoff against Thailand as Aimal Khan starred with 34 points.

China won the first set 25-17 with ease, but the Pakistan came back strongly in the second set and the two sides took turns to lead till Pakistan got a string of three straight points to end the set 28-26.

The third set saw Pakistan continue the momentum while China struggled to catch up. But this time, it was China who turned the tide at the end with a string of three straight points and won narrowly 30-28.

In the fourth set, Pakistan opened with a 5-0 lead, and then enlarged the margin to 10-3. China failed to narrow the gap and ended the set 19-25, bringing the game to a tie-breaker.

In the final set, the two sides took turns to lead, and though China got the match point first, it was Pakistan who capitalised on the chance to win 18-16.

“Our players worked very hard but our team was not in good form,” China coach Sheng Qiong explained.

SQUASH TRIUMPH

Also on Thursday, Pakistan savoured a 3-0 victory over South Korea in the men’s squash team event to seal second place in Pool ‘A’ and book a semi-final date against Malaysia.

Asim Khan set the tone for the victory with a 11–8, 12–10, 10–12, 11–8 victory against Ko Young-jo before Israr Ahmad beat Lee Nyeon-ho 11-5, 11-4, 11-6 and Tayyab Aslam overcame Lee Seung-teak 11-1, 11-5, 11-8.

Another triumph followed at the Rawamangun Baseball Field where Pakistan ran out 10-2 winners against Indonesia to start their consolation round campaign as they bid to finish in fifth place.

There wasn’t much joy elsewhere for Pakistan as the rugby 7s team was hammered 5-64 by Hong Kong and 0-43 by Thailand in their opening two Group ‘A’ games while the men’s 4x400m relay team finished last in their final, posting a time of 3 minutes, 8.87 seconds. Qatar won that race in a continental record time of 3.00.56.

The sepaktakraw team continued their losing streak, losing a third successive Group ‘B’ match in the quadrant event after falling 2-0 to Nepal.

VICTORY AND DEFEAT

There were some victories in table tennis but they were quickly followed by defeats as Pakistan’s Asim Qureshi and Aisha Ansari won their last-64 matches, only to be ousted in the last-32.

Asim beat Indonesian Abdi Bima Negara 4-0 before losing by the same score to India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta while Aisha recorded a 4-3 win against Qatar’s Aia Mohammad in the women’s singles before she was trounced by Tianwei Feng of Singapore 4-0.

Other Pakistani representatives Mohammad Rameez and Fatima Khan fell in the last-64.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2018