KARACHI - Pakistan beat Sri Lanka 14-0 in the seventh junior men’s Asian Cup Hockey tournament being played at Malacca, Malaysia to set-up semi-final clash with Korea.
M Taufeeq scored five goals while Pakistan team captain M Umar Bhutta also hit a hat-trick to take Pakistan to victory. On Sunday, India recovered from a goal down in a 2-2 draw against Pakistan. Pakistan took the lead twice but India came back with an equaliser.
Pakistan have pipped India to top the pool as Pakistan were needed to defeat Sri Lanka by 12-goal margin and they achieved it in style, winning 14-0, thus avoided Malaysia in the cross over semi-final on Thursday. The second semi-final will be played between India and Malaysia while South Korea will face Pakistan in the other semi-final.
India eked out a hard-fought 2-1 victory over China in their last pool match. Naveen Antil (19th min) and Amit Rohidas (57th) scored the goals for India, while the Chinese lone reply came through winger Yu Xin in the 45th minute. Having registered two wins and a draw, India collected seven points to move into the last four stage.