AAG: Pakistan beaten by India, to meet Korea in Afro-Asian semis
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| The News International |
October 28, 2003
The News International
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KARACHI: In their last Pool B match of the First Afro-Asian Games hockey tournament, in the Indian city of Hyderabad on Tuesday, hosts and old rivals India defeated Pakistan by a 4-2 margin, but both teams had already been assured of places in the semifinals. At one stage, Pakistan were 2-1 ahead of India, but three late goals by the latter took them to a convincing win.
Pakistan will now play against the Pool A leaders South Korea in the knockout round on Wednesday (tomorrow) while India, who topped Pool B, will be playing against Malaysia in the other semifinal. Malaysia, in spite of being beaten by South Korea 2-1 in their last Pool A fixture on Tuesday, finished ahead of South Africa by a solitary goal’s difference.
In other matches yesterday, South Africa beat Ghana convincingly by a 5-0 margin but couldn’t match Malaysia although they finished with the same number of points (4). Egypt in Pool B registered their first win of the tournament, when they beat Nigeria 4-2. The latter lost all their three matches, as did Ghana in Pool A.
Pakistan started off the competition by beating Nigeria 4-3 last Thursday, whilst being given quite a scare by the not-very-strong African outfit. On Saturday, they also made heavy weather while winning 3-1 against Egypt. India defeated them quite comfortably yesterday.
In the other knockout stage matches on Wednesday, Egypt are to face Ghana while South Africa will play against Nigeria. The classification matches, among the eight participants of the tournament, the third-fourth place playoff and the final have been scheduled to be played on Friday, October 31.
According to Press Trust of India, a thick security blanket was thrown at the G M C Balayogi Stadium in Hyderabad to avoid any untoward incident at the venue of the high-voltage India-Pakistan hockey tie of the Afro-Asian Games, where Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was expected to be present. Police cordoned off the stadium and sniffer dogs were pressed into service at the venue, which was thronged by thousands of hockey fans.
Naidu’s decision to watch the Indo-Pak tie forced the organisers to re-schedule the day matches. Naidu, also the chairman of the Afro-Asian Games Organising Committee, escaped a bid on his life near Tirupati earlier this month.
"We are taking every measure to ensure a smooth game. We will not allow anything untoward to happen," a senior police official said. Nearly two thousand fans witnessed the previous night’s women’s hockey match when India beat Kazakhstan 9-0.
Points Table
Pool A P W D L GF GA GD Pts
South Korea 3 3 - - 7 1 6 9
Malaysia 3 1 1 1 7 3 4 4
South Africa 3 1 1 1 6 3 3 4
Ghana 3 - - 3 0 13 -13 0
Pool B
India 3 3 - - 14 6 8 9
Pakistan 3 2 - 1 9 8 1 6
Egypt 3 1 - 2 6 10 -4 3
Nigeria 3 - - 3 8 13 -5 0
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