India, Pakistan stunned
The mouthwatering prospect of an India-Pakistan final in men's hockey at the Asian Games was put to bed as both the subcontinent giants were handed surprise defeats in their respective semifinals at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium hockey field yesterday.
They will meet though, in the bronze medal match while Malaysia will take on Japan in the final, which will see a new champion.
Defending champions and pre-tournament favourites India lost to Malaysia 7-6 in a penalty shootout while Pakistan, the record eight-time champions, were handed a 1-0 defeat by Japan.
Malaysia will play only their second Asian Games final, having lost to Pakistan in their maiden appearance in 2010 while Japan will be appearing in the gold medal match for the very first time.
Hockey is a traditional sport in the Olympics as well as the Asian Games, and an India-Pakistan match always draws a crowd wherever in the world it takes place. The hockey final is the penultimate gold-deciding event of this year's Asian Games and everyone was expecting a grandstand finish to it. But Malaysia and Japan had other ideas.
It looked like India, the highest ranked side of the competition, sitting fifth in world rankings, would make it in normal time when they took a 2-1 lead over the 12th-ranked side going into the final quarter, thanks to goals in the third quarter from Harmanpreet Singh and Varun Kumar. However, with barely two minutes of play remaining, Muhammad Rahim Razie converted a penalty corner to take the game to shootouts, where Malaysia prevailed 7-6.
Japan meanwhile, took the lead against Pakistan through a 17th minute penalty corner conversion from Yamada Shota and held on to the lead, despite coming under heavy pressure from Pakistan for the rest of the match.
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