3 days Ago By fatimah.amjad
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will lock horns with hosts China in the first semifinal of the Asian Champions Trophy field hockey today, Monday, after losing their first match of the tournament to arch-rivals India last week. Pakistan are placed at number two on the points table, with undefeated India occupying the top spot. The green shirts have played five matches in the tournament out of which they have lost only one against India.
Pakistan drew 2-2 against both Malaysia and South Korea last week before notching their first win of the tournament against Japan 2-1 on Wednesday. The South Asian country then beat China 5-1 on Thursday before losing to India 2-1 in a close encounter on Saturday. “The first semifinal of the Asian Champions Trophy of Hockey will be played between Pakistan and China at Moqi tomorrow [Monday],” Radio Pakistan said on Sunday.
“The match will start at 12:30 p.m. Pakistan Standard Time.
” Pakistan captain Amad Butt said on Sunday that his side would go “all-out” against China, saying that his teammates were well aware of the hosts’ strengths and weaknesses. “It also helps that we arrived for this tournament very early and played quite a few matches against China,” Butt said. “We look forward to a good game and if we win, there is nothing better than an India-Pakistan final.
” India, who have so far remained unbeaten in the tournament, will play against South Korea today in the second semifinal of the tournament. China began the tournament on a poor note with a 0-3 loss to India but had mixed results in their campaign with a 4-2 win against Malaysia, a 2-3 loss to South Korea and a 1-5 loss to Pakistan. However, they will take the field today against Pakistan confident after beating Japan 2-0 last week.
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