The 1st men’s and 2nd women’s Asian Champions Trophy tournaments are currently taking place in Ordos, China. We take a look at the action from the tournament so far.
Men’s event – India and Pakistan lead the way
Pakistan have been impressive so far in this event, recording three wins and suffering just one defeat ahead of the final set of round-robin matches. Brilliant attacker Shakeel Abbasi gave Pakistan a 3-2 win over Malaysia in their opening fixture on Saturday before his team cruised to a 4-1 triumph over host nation China the following day. However, Pakistan fell a shock 3-1 defeat against Japan on Tuesday, but returned to winning ways on Wednesday with a superb 3-2 triumph over Korea. The Koreans forced Pakistan work hard for their victory, fighting back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the scores midway through the second half. However, a field goal from Rasool Shaqat ensured that Pakistan claimed their third win of the tournament.
Pakistan’s opponents in their final round-robin match on Friday will be eternal rivals India, a team that has also shown fine form in the competition. The side coached by former Australian international Michael Jack Nobbs is just one point behind Pakistan, and remains unbeaten after four games with wins China (5-0) and Korea (5-3) as well as draws against Japan (1-1) and Malaysia (2-2) respectively. They have scored more goals than any other team in the competition, registering 13 times in their four matches - a statistic that will fill them with great confidence ahead of the Friday’s hugely anticipated meeting with Pakistan.
A win for either Pakistan or India would be good enough to seal a place in the tournament final, and a draw may be just enough for Pakistan depending on the result between third placed Japan and a Malaysia team which is out of the running. Victory for Japan should be enough to put them in the final, but Malaysia will prove to be anything but easy opponents. Korea are also still in with a shot, but need both a win over China and other results to go heavily in their favour if they are to compete for the gold medal.
Women’s tournament – Korea edging China on goals scored
Like the men’s Asian Champions Trophy tournament, the women’s event goes into the final set of round-robin matches with plenty still to play for. Korea currently have the edge over China, but it is by the smallest of advantages. Korea lead China by virtue of having scored one more goal than their opponents, with points and goal difference being completely equal.
The two giants of Asian hockey went head-to-head on Tuesday 6th September, playing out an entertaining 2-2 draw. Korea established a 2-2 lead thanks to penalty corner efforts from Kim Jong Hee either side of half time, but veteran China stars Ma Yibo (PC – 56m)and Fu Baorong (FG - 60m) ensured that the points would were shared.
Korea face Japan in their final round-robin match, and know that a draw would be enough to see them into the Gold medal match. However, a defeat against the Japanese would see their opponents into the final. China’s place in the gold medal match looks very likely, needing just a draw or a victory against bottom of the table India in their meeting on Thursday.
Asian Champions Trophy 2011
Tournament Fixtures & Results - 7 September 2011
3rd September 2011
Match No Fixture Result
M01 Korea v Japan 3-2 (2-1)
M02 India v China 5-0 (2-0)
M03 Pakistan v Malaysia 3-2 (2-2)
4th September 2011
W01 China v Japan 3-0 (3-0)
W02 Korea v India 4-1 (1-0)
M04 Japan v India 1-1 (0-1)
M05 Korea v Malaysia 4-3 (1-2)
M06 Pakistan v China 4-1 (1-1)
5th September 2011
Rest Day
6th September 2011
W03 Korea v China 2-2 (1-0)
W04 Japan vIndia 5-0 (2-0)
M07 China v Malaysia 2-4 (2-2)
M08 Japan v Pakistan 3-1 (1-1)
M09 India v Korea 5-3 (4-2)
7th September 2011
M10 Malaysia v India 2-2 (2-1)
M11 China v Japan 1-3 (1-1)
M12 Pakistan v Korea 3-2 (2-0)
8th September 2011
W05 Japan v Korea
W06 China v India
9th September 2011
M13 India v Pakistan
M14 Korea v China
M15 Malaysia v Japan
10th September 2011
W07 Women’s Bronze Medal(3 v 4)
W08 Women’s Gold Medal(1 v 2)
11th September 2011
M16 Men’s Classification(5-6)
M17 Men’s Bronze Medal (3-4)
M18 Men’s Gold Medal (1-2)
Current Standings - Men (7th September 2011)
PS TEAMS P W D L GF GA PTS GD
1. PAKISTAN 4 3 0 1 11 8 9 +3
2. INDIA 4 2 2 0 13 6 8 +7
3. JAPAN 4 2 1 1 9 6 7 +3
4. KOREA 4 2 0 2 12 13 6 -1
5. MALAYSIA 4 1 1 2 11 11 4 +0
6. CHINA 4 0 0 4 4 16 0 -12
Current standings - Women (7th September 2011)
PS TEAMS P W D L GF GA PTS GD
1. KOREA 2 1 1 0 6 3 4 +3
2. CHINA 2 1 1 0 5 2 4 +3
3. JAPAN 2 1 0 1 5 3 3 +2
4. INDIA 2 0 0 2 1 9 0 -8
