Wooden spoon for winless Pakistan

Greenshirts' horror show continued in final game too

KARACHI: Pakistan ended up with the dreaded wooden spoon at the 4-Nation International Festival of Hockey as they lost their final fixture of the tournament as well, this time a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Japan at Melbourne's State Netball Hockey Centre on Sunday.

Already out of the running for the finals courtesy their three consecutive defeats, the Greenshirts went into the third-place match hoping to salvage some pride but once again came up short.

The match started at a frantic pace, with both the sides launching multiple attacks in the opening minutes.

Japan's penalty corner was saved by goalkeeper Amjad, whereas Atiq Arshad came close on the other hand but failed to open the scoring.

Pakistani backline had Yamada to thank after he inexplicably shot over the bar when presented with an easy opportunity.

The game got its opening goal in the 13^th minute when Ajaz was fed inside the circle and he managed to squeeze his shot in between the small gap between goalkeeper and the near post.

Pakistan's joy, however, was short-lived as in the very next minute the brilliant Tanaka— who had bagged twice in the same fixture days ago — scored a sensational equaliser.

Neither team managed to trouble the scoreline in the next two quarters, with the match tied at 1-1.

The decisive goal came three minutes before the end when Murata scored for Japan to give his side a 2-1 lead that stayed intact for the remainder of the game.