GOLD COAST - Pakistan came from behind to defeat Canada 3-1 by taking 7th place in the positional match of the hockey competition of the XXI Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games at Hockey Club ground on Friday.
Australia, looking for a sixth successive Commonwealth title, play New Zealand in the final. While England and India would play for bronze. South Africa got wooden spoon after 2-3 loss to Wales. Malaysia edged out Scotland 2-1 in 5th/6th playoff match to finish at no 5.
Canada went ahead in the first quarter through James Kirkpatrick goal in open play. The North Americans kept the lead intact till the end of the second quarter. Pakistan were the far better side in the second half.
Arslan Qadir equalised before Mubashar Ali, who ended Pakistan's top scorer in the competition with four goals, put his team ahead off a penalty corner. In the last quarter M Irfan Jr completed the tally with his third goal of the event. The result means Pakistan got 7th position and Canada finished at no 8.
The Kookaburras remain on track to claim an unprecedented sixth straight Commonwealth Games hockey gold medal after advancing to the final with a heart-stopping 2-1 win over England.
The Australian men's team, who have lost just one match in the history of the Games, will meet trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in what will also be skipper Mark Knowles' emotional farewell.
The Kookaburras appeared set for a cruisy Friday night when Trent Mitton trapped and turned to blitz one through England goalkeeper George Pinner's legs inside the opening minute. However a third-quarter goal to Ian Sloan set up a thrilling final period, where Mitton nailed a penalty corner to send the Gold Coast Hockey Centre crowd into a frenzy.
Mitton admitted the side would need to watch their ill-discipline in the final. "They're a really good team and we had the momentum early, let it slip and we let them back in the game. Then we kept getting guys sent off. We made it really hard for ourselves," he said. "We certainly will have to watch our discipline. You can't win games of hockey very often with that many people sent off the field at international level."
The Indian hockey team failed to recover from a poor start, losing to New Zealand 2-3. India put up a disastrous defensive performance in the first quarter to concede two goals to Hugo Inglis (7th minute) and Stephen Jenness (13th). But Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty stroke in the 29th minute. India trailed 1-2 at half-time. Markus Child regained New Zealand's two-goal lead in the 40th minute. India kept chasing and reduced the deficit to one in the 57th minute through a penalty corner but it proved to be too late to find an equaliser.
In Men Freestyle 65kg, Abdul Wahab beat Adam Vella Malta on points 12-2. He got more points in the first bout of 10 points and 2 points in the second round. But he lost to Canada’s Vincent De Marinis 0-10 in the quarter-final to end medal hopes.
In the Men’s 97kg freestyle Umair Ahmad of Pakistan lost to Jordan Steem of Canada on 11-0 in the semi-finals. Pakistan are still on 31st position with three bronze medals so far.