Commonwealth Games
\n BIRMINGHAM
\nOnce again, Pakistan took on Canada in a seventh-place playoff at the Commonwealth Games. Just like four years ago in Australia, Pakistan came out as winners. This time thanks to a last-minute strike by Abdul Hanan Shahid that sealed a nerve-wracking 4-3 win on Saturday.
\nThe match at the University of Birmingham hockey stadium was representative of how far Pakistan have fallen behind. Once the giants of world hockey, they have now become the also-rans in the sport. They\u2019re still seventh in the Commonwealth nations.
\nHad it not been for Shahid\u2019s goal, they would\u2019ve finished even worse as Canada twice came back to level the match, first from 2-0 down and then from 3-2.
\nHaving finished fourth in Pool \u2018A\u2019, Pakistan scored twice in the space of a minute to make it 2-0 by the 25th. First Rana Abdul Waheed\u2019s spectacular shot found the net and Ghazanfar Ali added another field goal to put Siegfried\u2019s Aikman\u2019s men in control.
\nThat lead, though, didn\u2019t last long as Canada were on level terms by halftime. First Matt Sarmento converted a penalty corner in the 26th and Canada\u2019s relentless pressure paid off when they were awarded a penalty stroke just before the half-time whistle and Keegan Pereira made no mistake.
\nPakistan dominated possession in the third quarter but it didn\u2019t reflect on the scoreboard until seven minutes into the fourth when captain Umar Bhutta buried a field attempt.
\nThat set up a dramatic finale as Canada pushed for a leveller and found it with two minutes go when Sarmento converted his second penalty corner of the match. But Shahid broke their hearts when he gave Pakistan the decisive lead with just seconds left to play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Commonwealth Games BIRMINGHAM Once again, Pakistan took on Canada in a seventh-place playoff at the Commonwealth Games. Just like four years ago in Australia, Pakistan came out as winners. This time thanks to a last-minute strike by Abdul Hanan Shahid that sealed a nerve-wracking 4-3 win on Saturday. The match at the University of Birmingham […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-276279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n