Pakistan won the bronze medal in Azlan Shah Cup 2022
Islamabad, 11 November 2022 (GNP/ TDI): Pakistan Hockey Team ended their campaign in the top three in the 2022 Azlan Shah Cup held in Malaysia, on 9 November 2022.
Pakistan grabbed the bronze medal by defeating Japan in the third-four placing game by 5-3 in Ipoh, Malaysia. Green shirts won the place on the podium in the tournament for the first time in 11 years.
Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shahbaz Sharif on Twitter praised Pakistan Hockey Team for winning the crucial game against Japan and earning the bronze medal. Moreover, he congratulated the whole nation on this victory and the achievements Azlan Shah Cup.
The 2022 Azlan Shah Cup was the 29th edition held in Ipoh, Malaysia from 1 November to 10 November 2022. This international tournament was played between six teams including Japan, Egypt, Pakistan, South Africa, South Korea, and host Malaysia.
From Japan’s side, Kentaro Fukuda scored the first goal in the tenth minute, and later on, Yuma Nagai scored the second and third goals for Japan in the 31st and 50th minutes respectively.
From Pakistan’s side, Abdul Shahid scored the first goal by the men in green in the 11th minute. Arbaz Ahmed scored the second goal in the 18th minute and a third one scored by Rooman took Pakistan to a good 3-1 lead.
By taking good form, Rooman scored another goal in the 35th minute taking lead to 4-2. After Japan’s third goal, Pakistan’s Abdul Rana scored the last goal of the match in the 53rd minute taking Pakistan to win by an easy margin of 5-3.
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Pakistan in the tournament
Pakistan’s National Team started its campaign by playing against South Africa on 1 November and ended with a defeat 0f 1-4 in the group stage. Their second match was against Malaysia on 2 November, which resulted in a tie of 1-1.
On 4 November, Pakistan faced Japan which also resulted in a tie of 2-2. The very next day, Pakistan took on South Korea. But South Korea won the nail-biter by 2-1 and qualified for the first-second placing match.
On 7 November, Pakistan outclassed Egypt by 4-1 in a crucial game and qualified for the classification round, where they faced Japan for third-fourth placing.
Malaysia and South Korea, the top two teams in the tournament, played for the First-Second place game. In this match, Malaysia clinched the Gold medal, and South Korea ended as runner-up and won the Silver medal in the tournament.
Pakistan competed in a tournament with a young team after nine senior players refused to join the training camp earlier this tournament.
Pakistan Hockey Team was led by Umer Bhutta and coached by former Dutch Field Hockey Player, Siegfried Aikman.