Pakistan off to a flying start drub Japan 4-0

Monchengladbach, Sep 7 (UNI) World's highest goal scorer Sohail Abbas struck twice as Pakistan started their campaign with a facile 4-0 win over Japan in the 11th Hockey World Cup here today.

Pakistan struck twice in each half to make light of Japan's challenge and in the process served notice that they can not be taken lightly.

The Green shirts dominated the 70-minute encounter but for the missed chances, their victory margin would have been much higher.

The Japanese were hardly in picture. They did try to counter in patches but could not get through the strudy Pakistan defence.

Apart from Sohail Abbas's two goals, Rehan Butt and Shakeel Abbasi chipped in one each to complete the rout.

The four time World champions took the lead in the ninth minute when Sohail will his trade mark drag flick converted the penalty corner. After that Rehan Butt and Shakeel Abbasi combined well and within three minutes took the lead to 2-0 with Rehan sending the ball home after a confusion in the Japanese defence.

Japanese goalkeeper Shunsuke Nagaoka under the bar did some good work to prevent any more goal in this half though the Pakistan kept on raiding the rival defence.

The Japanese put up a stout heart display in the first half of the second session but the could not stop Pakistanis from scoring the third goal which came in the 64th minute.

It was Sohail Abbas who sent the ball home with a powerful drag flick converting second penalty corner.

Two minutes before the final whistle, Shakeel Abbasi completed the tally with a superb goal.

Pakistan coach Shehnaz Shiekh expressed happiness over his team's display and said ''we played to a plan. The idea was not to tire the players. We dictated the tempo of the game.'' ''This was the good start,we were hoping for,'' he added.

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