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Journalism of Courage
Osaka, March 20: Spain ran circles around Pakistan’s defence to win the final of the Olympic field hockey qualifying tournament 3-2 here on Sunday.
Spain, silver-medallists at the Atlanta Games four years ago, put their rivals under pressure with a 2-0 lead in the first-half.
Pakistan’s ace penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas scored both his team’s goals to emerge the leading scorer of the tournament with 13, three more than second-placed Jorge Lombi of Argentina.
But Pakistan suffered a setback when Imran Yousuf missed a penalty stroke in the 22nd minute as his scoop to the right was saved by goalkeeper Ramon Jufresa.
Eduard Tubau put Spain up in the 17th minute with a solo run from the 25-yard circle soon after coming on as a substitute.
Xavier Ribas converted a penalty corner three minutes before the interval to make it 2-0.
Abbas, whose lone penalty corner in the first-half hit the crossbar, narrowed the margin in the 42nd minute — only to see Xavier Arnau score Spain’s third goal soon after.
Abbas found the net again one minute before the final whistle, but there was no time left for a repeat of the thrilling 4-4 draw by the two teams earlier in the league.
Pakistani coach Islahuddin Siddiqui said the missed penalty stroke cost his side dearly. “It could have been 1-1 and anything could have happened after that,” he said.
Earlier, South Korea finished third in the 12-nation tournament with a 2-1 win over Poland in the match between the losing semi-finalists.
The Koreans, winners of the Fair Play Award, led 2-0 at half-time through field goals by Hwang Jong-Hyun and captain Kang Keon-Wook.
After a lacklustre second half, Poland reduced the margin three minutes before the final whistle when Rafal Grotowski scored off a penalty corner.
“We would have preferred to be at home celebrating our entry into the Olympics,” said Polish star Piotr Mikula, who was named Player of the Tournament for his five goals against Britain which helped his team qualify for the Olympics after 20 years.
The tournament threw up six qualifiers for the Sydney Games — Spain, Pakistan, South Korea, Poland, Britain and Malaysia.
Argentina, who finished seventh here, could also go through if the South African Olympic Committee stands by its decision not to send the men’s team to the Games.
Switzerland defeated Belarus 4-1 in the play-off for the 11-12 positions. Belgium took the ninth place with a 1-0 win over New Zealand.
Britain had finished fifth on Saturday ahead of Malaysia. Argentina were seventh and hosts Japan eighth.
