India

HYDERABAD: Egypt and South Africa will play for the 5-6 position after they won their respective play-offs in the men's hockey event of the Afro-Asian Games at Gachibowli Stadium here Wednesday.




A first-half goal by Sameh Mohamed gave Egypt a hard-fought 1-0 victory in the first match of the day which was followed by a comprehensive 4-0 win by South Africa over Nigeria.



Nigeria, who had surprised all by coming up with spirited showings against Pakistan and India in a pool match earlier in the competition, were expected to make a brave attempt to register their first win in the tournament.



But South Africa hardly gave anything away sealing the match in the first half itself by slamming home three goals in a span of 13 minutes.



The South Africans made quite a few forays into the opposition goalmouth area by making some real good moves though they had to wait for 12 minutes for opening their account.







Taking advantage of a defensive lapse, Craig Fulton scored the first goal that helped the South Africans increase the onslaught which resulted in two more quick goals.



Gareth Carr converted a penalty corner in the 15th minute while Steve Philips made it 3-0 by scoring a field goal 10 minutes later. A 56th minute goal by Denzil Dolley completed the formalities for the winners, who would meet Egypt in the classification match slated for Friday.



In the earlier match, Ghana, looking for their first point in the event, suffered a setback early in the match when Mohamed sounded the board in the 11th minute.



Though Ghana tried hard for the equaliser, Egypt defenders did not offer the opposition forwards any space near the goalmouth.



Pakistan will take on Asian Games winners Korea in the first semi-final while India and Malaysia will battle it out in the second scheduled later in the day.

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