Junior Hockey Asia Cup Archives

Pakistan Junior Hockey team return after Asia Cup

KARACHI: Head coach Haneef Khan, alongside three players of the Pakistan Junior Hockey team returned to the country on Saturday after participating in the recently-concluded Asia Cup.

Besides coach Haneef, three players of Pakistan Junior Hockey team Abdul Wahab, Arbaz Khan and Ayaz Ahmed also landed here at Jinnah International on Saturday afternoon.

The players received a warm welcome from the Karachi Hockey Association (KHA) officials and their families at the airport. They also received garlands as a symbol of appreciation.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan finished as the runners-up of the Junior Hockey Asia Cup after falling for a 1-2 defeat against arch-rivals India in the blockbuster final.

Singh Angad Bir opened the scoring for India in the 12th minute via a brilliant field goal and gave his side an upper hand in the first quarter.

Hundal Araijeet Singh then doubled India’s lead just four minutes into the second quarter as Pakistan spilt a couple of opportunities to fire an equalizer.

The third quarter turned out to be a fortune changer for the green shirts as they finally registered a goal on the scoreboard, courtesy of a calculated field goal by Ali Basharat in the 37th minute.

Basharat’s goal forced India to be more defensive and they cordoned off their post to deny Pakistan any chance to fire the equalizer.

Pakistan made several attempts to breach India’s defences by dribbling past their defenders and awarded penalty corners but failed to fire the ball into the nets and thus India ran away with the victory.

Heading into the blockbuster final, both India and Pakistan were unbeaten in the continental event.

The arch-rivals have so far come face to face in four Junior Hockey Asia Cup finals with India winning on three occasions – 2004, 08 and 23 – while the green shirts emerged victorious once in 1996.

Furthermore, before this year’s tournament both Pakistan were level as the joint-most title-winning sides (3) but India’s latest title victory propelled them to the record title holder of the Asian event.

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India edge Pakistan to win Junior Hockey Asia Cup 2023

SALALAH: Arch-rivals India edged Pakistan by the scoreline of 2-1 to lift the Junior Hockey Asia Cup 2023 title, which is their fourth overall.

Singh Angad Bir opened the scoring for India in the 12th minute via a brilliant field goal and gave his side an upper hand in the first quarter.

Hundal Araijeet Singh then doubled India’s lead just four minutes into the second quarter as Pakistan spilt a couple of opportunities to fire an equalizer.

The third quarter turned out to be a fortune changer for the green shirts as they finally registered a goal on the scoreboard, courtesy of a calculated field goal by Ali Basharat in the 37th minute.

Basharat’s goal forced India to be more defensive and they cordoned off their post to deny Pakistan any chance to fire the equalizer.

Heading into the blockbuster final, both India and Pakistan were unbeaten in the continental event.

Notably, the arch-rivals also came face to face in the group stage but the enthralling contest failed to conclude a result as they settled for a 1-1 stalemate.

Playing at the Salalah Sports Complex, the Pakistan team defended the Indian attack quite brilliantly in the first quarter which ended without a goal despite men in blue enjoying the bulk of possession.

India took the lead via a penalty corner with Sharad Nand Tiwari flicking the ball in the net to help his team go 1-0 before halftime.

Pakistan, however, unleashed a counterattack in the third quarter and put the Indian defence under pressure.

India won a couple of penalty corners but failed to score. Pakistan, on the other hand, equalized through Ali Basharat, who netted from a close distance to make it 1-1.

The final quarter also witnessed a see-saw contest with both teams battling for a winning goal but the deadlock persisted till the final whistle.

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Japan defeat brings double delight for Pakistan Junior Hockey team

SALALAH: Pakistan beat Japan 3-2 on Monday in the Junior Hockey Asia Cup 2023 to reach the tournament’s semifinal while also qualifying for this year’s Junior World Cup in Malaysia.

Pakistan will take on World Cup hosts Malaysia on Wednesday in the semifinal.

Abdul Wahab scored twice while Arbaaz Ahmed netted the first goal to give Pakistan a thrilling win over the opponents in their final encounter in Pool A.

Japan secured an early in the second minute of the game, through Kompi Yoshida on a penalty corner and ended the first quarter with a 1-0 lead.

Arbaaz found the equaliser in the 23rd minute on a penalty corner before Wahab put the Green Shirts ahead with a field goal in the 30th.

In the third quarter, the game witnessed a see-saw contest between the two sides as Japan nullified Pakistan’s lead through Hota Yamada in the 38th minute while Wahab was quick to restore the one-goal cushion.

With the win, Pakistan have also confirmed their spot in the FIH Men’s Hockey Asia Cup to be held in Kuala Lumpur from December 5 to 16, 2023.

Besides the Men in Green, India also qualified for the event’s semifinal from Pool A and will face South Korea, who finished second in Pool B.

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Pakistan hold India to 1-1 draw in Junior Asia Cup

SALALAH: Pakistan held India to a 1-1 draw and continued their unbeaten streak in the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 hockey tournament in Salalah, Oman on Saturday.

Sharda Nand Tiwari scored the opener for India in the 24th minute before Pakistan’s Basharat Ali equalized in the 44th.

Both India and Pakistan have accumulated seven points each from their respective three-game in Pool A but the latter leads the tally with a better goal difference.

Japan, who beat Chinese Taipei 10-1 earlier on Saturday, are third with six points from three outings.

India took the lead via a penalty corner with Sharad Nand Tiwari flicking the ball in the net to help his team go 1-0 before halftime.

Pakistan, however, unleashed a counterattack in the third quarter and put the Indian defence under pressure.

India won a couple of penalty corners but failed to score. Pakistan, on the other hand, equalized through Ali Basharat, who netted from a close distance to make it 1-1.

The final quarter also witnessed a see-saw contest with both teams battling for a winning goal but the deadlock persisted till the final whistle.

Pakistan have a fair chance to qualify for the event’s semifinal and also earn a spot in FIH Junior Hockey World Cup 2023 when they face Japan on May 29.

The Men in Green only require to avoid a defeat in their last group encounter.

Malaysia, as hosts, have already qualified for the World Cup. Since they have also qualified for the semi-finals of the Junior Asia Cup, this means that all the other three teams making it to the last four will gain entry into the World Cup as well.

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