KUALA LUMPUR (Kashmir English): In a thrilling contest, Pakistan outclassed France in a penalty shootout to win the FIH Nations Cup semi-final at the National Hockey Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday.
Earlier, the two sides remained tied at 3-3 at the end of the fourth quarter, which took the contest to the penalty shootouts, where the green shirts managed to secure a 3- 2 win, advancing to the final of the Nations Cup.
During the penalty shootouts, Pakistan goalkeeper Muneeb Ur-Rehman blocked three chances of France, while Rana Waheed Ashraf, Hannan Shahid, and Afraz struck for Pakistan.
With winning this match and securing a place in the finals of the tournaments, Pakistan has also qualified for the elite FIH Hockey Pro League, a great moment for the national game’s revival.
The green shirts will face either New Zealand or Korea in the final clash on Saturday.
Today’s match got off to a nervy start as the two sides failed to score the opener in the first quarter, with Pakistan getting one penalty corner and France having four. Eventually, Xavier Esmenjaud scored the first goal for the Blues in the 25th minute.
Later, France doubled their lead just four minutes into the third quarter through Victory Charlet.
Pakistan then staged an astounding comeback by netting three goals within five minutes to head into the final quarter with a 3-2 lead. Afraz scored the first goal for the green shirt, followed by Sufyan Khan on a penalty corner, and Muhammad Hammadudin.
The green shirts then tried to prevent France from scoring the equaliser by passing each other until a foul from their defender with just three minutes of action left gave the Blues a crucial penalty corner, which Charlet commandingly converted to neutralise Pakistan’s lead.
Pakistan had a vital opportunity to score the tiebreaker in the 59th minute as they got a penalty corner, which was burnt by Sufyan Khan as he hit a France defender in the process.
