Pakistan tame Japan 7-0, Malaysia maul Chinese Taipei 10-2

Pakistan thrashed Japan 7-0, while hosts Malaysia demolished debutant Chinese Taipei 10-2 in their respective Pool A matches of the ninth Asia Cup hockey tournament, here today.
In the first Pool A encounter, Pakistan started on a bright note and raced to a 6-0 lead in the first half before the Japanese came up with a spirited effort in the second period to concede just one goal.
Surprisingly, the Japanese defence crumbled like a pack of cards in front of the ever-attacking Pakistanis in the first half with Muhammad Waqas (12th, 20th), Abdul Haseem Khan (22nd), Muhammad Tousiq (25th, 35th) and captain Muhammad Imran (33rd) handing a comfortable lead to their side at the lemon break.

But it was completely different scenario after the break as Pakistan found it extremely difficult to breach the Japanese defence, which seemed to have learnt from its' mistakes.
After toiling hard for the entire second half, Pakistan managed to score another goal at the stroke of the hooter through their skipper Imran who converted a penalty corner.
Pakistan's dominance can be gauged from the fact that they scored five of their goals from penalty corners while the other two came through field efforts.
Meanwhile, in the second Pool A match of the day which witnessed high-scoring encounters, Malaysia was in for a rude shock early in the game when Chinese Taipei took the lead against the run of the mill through Liu Ching Kun (5th minute).