Pakistan made a sensational start to their men’s hockey campaign at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, defeating Thailand 9-0 in their Pool B match at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Kakamigahara, Japan.
The Green Shirts dominated from the opening whistle, maintaining relentless pressure throughout all four quarters and preventing Thailand from finding the net.
Moeen Shakeel opened the scoring in the eighth minute before Ammad Butt doubled Pakistan’s advantage four minutes later.
Ahmed Nadeem then produced a standout performance, scoring a hat-trick of field goals in the 20th, 37th and 43rd minutes. Sufyan Khan also made a major contribution, converting two penalty corners in the 22nd and 23rd minutes.
Rana Waheed Ashraf added Pakistan’s seventh goal in the 31st minute, while Hannan Shahid completed the scoring with a goal in the 34th minute.
Pakistan led 5-0 at halftime and continued to control the match after the break, adding four more goals to complete an emphatic 9-0 victory.
The victory gives Pakistan an impressive start to their Pool B campaign. Their next group-stage match is against Uzbekistan on September 22, followed by fixtures against China, Malaysia and Oman.
With attacking players finding the target and the defence keeping a clean sheet, Pakistan will look to carry this momentum into their remaining Asian Games matches.
