Asian Champions Trophy 2023: Pakistan ends campaign with thumping 6-1 win over China

The fate of the contest was sealed in the opening quarter itself with Pakistan starting positively and thronging forward in attack against China.

Pakistan players celebrate a goal during the Asian Champions Trophy hockey match against China on Friday. | Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan signed off its Asian Champions Trophy campaign with a 6-1 hammering of China at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai on Friday.

The fate of the contest was sealed in the opening quarter itself with Pakistan starting positively and thronging forward in attack. It ran over the China backline in the first quarter, penetrating the circle at will and forcing errors to earn penalty corners.

The first came 28 seconds after pushback, but a miscue from Muhammad Sufyan Khan handed China a reprieve.

The Green Shirts made the first breach in the 10th minute when Ahtisham Aslam fired in a pass from the right flank. A deflection off a Chinese stick forced a save from Caiyu Wang but Muhammad Ammad was at the right place at the right time to put away the rebound.

Sufyan added two more in the next two minutes, burying his drag flicks into the top right corner.

In the final minute of the quarter, Abdul Rana fed Ammad on the left side of the China circle, who in turn set up a simple tap-in for Abdul Hannan Shahid.

China’s only shot on target in the first half came in the 20th minute, as Changliang Lin dove across to deflect Jiesheng Gao’s pass and forced a save from Abdullah Ishtiaq Khan.

The Pakistani onslaught continued in the second period, forcing China to swarm its circle to close out space. A diving Hannan struck the post in the 27th minute from a penalty corner when Sufyan opted for a variation pass to his right rather than a drag.

In the third quarter, China displayed better cohesion in working out the ball from pressure. One such counter allowed it to pull back after Qijun Chen’s final pass into the circle prompted a mistake from Sufyan and got China a short corner which Benhai Chen slotted home.

Another opportunity landed when Lin squared the ball from the right, offering Chen a clear shot at goal. Chen’s reverse-stick shot, though, was deemed dangerous and a chance escaped.

Pakistan snapped the spell of Chinese momentum in the 52nd minute when Ammad put another rebound past the Chinese goalkeeper with a vertical stick shot. Three minutes later, Rana skipped past two China shirts into the circle and sounded the board for Pakistan’s sixth.

Result: Pakistan 6 (Muhammad Ammad 10’ & 52’, Muhammad Sufyan Khan 11’ & 12’, Abdul Hannan Shahid 15’, Abdul Rana 55’) beat China 1 (Benhai Chen 35’)