23-Dec-2011
The News
KARACHI: China gave Pakistan a scare in the second match of their four-match Test series on Thursday by taking a 2-0 lead early in the first half, but eventually lost 5-3, at Hockey Club of Pakistan.
The green-shirts looked complacent and lacked aggression in the beginning, which the visitors made the most of. China scored the first goal when Dong Yang successfully converted a penalty corner in the third minute of the game. They managed to double the lead in the 11th minute when Liu Xiantang scored a field goal.
However, Haseem Khan managed to pull one goal in the 19th minute and Waqas Shareef leveled the score-line in the 23rd minute. Five minutes later, Haseem scored his second goal of the match when he capitalised on a penalty corner.
The score was 3-2 in favour of Pakistan at the end of first half. Pakistan came back strongly in the second half and only five minutes in the game, the green-shirts made it 4-2 through Ali Shan. But China managed to reduce the arrears when Dong Yang scored his second goal in 54th minute, also through a penalty corner.
Only two minutes later, Waqas Shareef also scored his second goal to make it 5-3. Both the teams created chances in the remaining part of the match, but failed to convert them. “China came with a different strategy and tried variations and therefore they managed to stun our players in the opening part of the match,” team manager Khwaja Junaid told reporters after the match. “They displayed brilliance in patches, during the game and were better side today.”
He said they would be more dangerous in the remaining two matches of the series. “They are getting better and better and I think they will soon be a strong side,” Junaid said. Chinese skipper Song Yi said that Pakistan are a world-class team and during the four-match event, his team would learn a lot. Yi said that they are looking to learn maximum from this series. “Of course every team play to win matches and we will do the same but our priority is to learn maximum from Pakistan, which is a much better side internationally.”
Pakistani skipper Mohammad Imran said that China displayed much better game. “We will also try to win the remaining two matches.” China will now play Pakistan in Faisalabad and Lahore on December 24 and 25, respectively.
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