Bangkok (8 Oct, 2016): Thailand and Singapore qualified for Sunday’s final of the 4th Women Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Cup at Thailand National Hockey Stadium in Bangkok.
Host Thailand crushed Pakistan’s head coach Saeed Khan’s aspiration of taking his team to the final with a 5-1 (half-time 2-1) victory in the semi-finals today while the Singaporeans ended defending champion Chinese Taipei’s impeccable run with an Ivy Chan field goal two minute to the end.
Until then both teams were embroiled in a spectacular display of determination and near misses. Ivy Chan was also instrumental in Singapore’s 1-1 drawn match against Pakistan on Friday with a late strike.
The Thais fully dominated the proceedings and did not give much room to
Pakistan strikers to manoeuvre and took a 2-1 lead at half-time.
Team captain Tikhamporn Sakunpithak scored two goals (51st & 58th) to take her personal goal scoring tally to 16 in the tournament. Kornkanok Sanpoung (14th), Natthakarn Aunjai (21st) and Supansa Samanso (68th) contributed towards Pakistan’s downfall. Kalsoom Shehzadi replied for Pakistan with a 28th minute field goal.
The Pakistani women hockey team created history by qualifying for the semi-finals of the AHF Cup for the first time. It is also Pakistan women team’s first appearance in any international event in three years and that makes the achievement remarkable.
They had remained unbeatable in the preliminary round following a 1-1 draw against Hong Kong and followed up with a staggering 11-0 victory over Cambodian before concluding their Group B fixtures with a 1-1 draw against Singapore. However, the Thais were simply in their element today.
Pakistan will play Chinese Taipei for the bronze medal.
In another match, Cambodia defeated Indonesia 3-0 for their first ever win in the fourth edition of the AHF Cup. The Cambodians will now play Uzbekistan, who finished fourth in Group A, in the 7-8th classification match while Sri Lanka and Hong Kong face off in the 5-6th playoff match.
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