Kiwis meet Korea in final, England, Pak to fight for 3rd place

Changzhou, China, Apr 22 (UNI) New Zealand shocked England and Korea upset Pakistan to set up a title clash in the World Cup Hockey qualifier tourney here today.

However, all the four teams have qualified for the main World Cup scheduled to be held in Monchengladbach, Germany in September.

In well-contested semifinals, New Zealand overpowered England 3-1 while Korea pipped Pakistan 2-1.

The semifinals were earlier slated to be played last evening but due to heavy rain the matches were deferred to this morning.

For New Zealand, who led 2-0 at half time, the scorers were Simon Child (9th, 27th minutes) and Hayden Shaw (58th). James Tindall reduced the margin for the losers in the 45th minute.

In a fast-paced match encounter, New Zealand took the lead when a shot from the left hit the crossbar and on the rebound an unmarked Simon Child deflected the ball home.

After taking the lead, New Zealand kept the pressure on but had a hard time creating scoring opportunities. However in the 27th minute, Simon Child got the ball alone near the penalty spot and pushed it in without difficulty giving his team a two-goal lead.

However, England went on the offensive as the second session opened. James Tindall, back in this game after a one match suspension, managed to get one back for the losers, but the Kiwis, despite looking a little tired towards the end of the game and playing somewhat listlessly, soon increased the tally as their dragflick specialist Hayden Shaw converted a penalty corner.

In the other semifinal between Korea and Pakistan, all the goals came in the second half. The Koreans struck twice in a space of three minutes through Eun Seong Hong (47th) and Nam Yong Lee (50th), while Mohd Imran reduced the margin for Pakistan in the 58th off a penalty corner.

Neither side was able to open the scoring in the first half as tough tackling and defending dominated the play and a half which saw three green cards shown in quick succession early in the piece.

That was a sign of things to come as Muhammad Saqlain was given his marching orders with a yellow card, for two greens, just two minutes into the second half.

Twelve minutes into this half, the Koreans struck through Eun Seong Hong, who spectacularly sent the ball into the roof of the net after a cross from the right found him on top of the circle unmarked.

The second goal came three minutes later through Nam Yong Lee after a Korean counter attacked with speed and precision, which caught Pakistan napping at the back.

Pakistan fought back to reduce the margin when Muhammad Imran scored off a penalty corner with a powerful drag flick.

Two more yellow cards were shown over the closing stages, both to Koreans, Sung Hoon Yoon and Seong Jung Kang, ensuring that the winners had to fight right to the death to earn their spot in the final.

Having received two yellow cards each Pakistan's Muhammad Saqlain and Korea's Sung Hoon Yoon are suspended for one match and will not play for their sides in the third place game and the final respectively tomorrow.

In other matches, Malaysia beat Canada 2-1 to finish ninth while Egypt beat China 3-2 to take the 11th place while hosts China ended last.

UNI XC HSB AY BST1526