Junior Asia Cup: Rehman’s five goals help Pakistan thump Thailand

KARACHI: Pakistan registered their second win of the Junior Hockey Asia Cup 2023 as Abdul Rehman’s five goals helped Green Shirts outclass Thailand by 9-0 in a one-sided Pool A encounter in Salalah, Oman, on Wednesday.

Abdul Rehman was adjudged the best player for his brilliant performance during the match.

In the first quarter, Thailand’s defensive line did well to keep things tight before Abdul Shahid broke the deadlock by netting a well-crafted field goal just before the hooter.

In the second quarter, Thailand’s defenders still showed enough strength as Pakistan managed to score two goals. Abdul Rehman scored a field goal in the 19th minute, while just ahead of the half-time whistle Abdul Wahab’s field goal made it 3-0.

In the third quarter, only one goal was scored as Abdul Rehman scored his second goal in the 41st minute to put Pakistan 4-0 ahead.

However, Thailand’s defence line choked big time in the fourth quarter, conceding five goals. In the 46th minute, Abdul Rehman completed his hat-trick and scored two successive goals in the 48th minute.

The teams have been divided into two pools. Pool A comprises Pakistan, India, Japan, Thailand, and Chinese Taipei, while Pool B consists of Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

Pakistan had won their first match against Chinese Taipei 15-1 on Tuesday.

Pakistan’s remaining matches are against India on May 27 and Japan on May 29.

The event will conclude with the final on June 1.

Earlier, team’s consultant Roelant Oltmans said that all he wanted was to see Pakistan making it to the semi-finals.

“I am here as the junior team consultant and my first challenge is to see Pakistan qualifying for the World Cup to be held later this year in India. If we succeed in making it to the semi-finals from Group A, we would be in a position to qualify for the World Cup,” he said.

“It is a tough task as there are some strong teams in Group A. I have very limited time at my disposal — almost 16 days here and a few days after reaching Oman. We want to make the best use of available time in an effort to get the favourable results. My efforts are to help the team make maximum use of their abilities. For that efforts would be made on targeted training. I will make sure to improve that side of the players’ quality which could help them get better results in the Asia Cup,” he added.