DAZHOU: Pakistan marches into the Men’s U18 Asia Cup 2025 semi-finals after beating host China 2-1 on Wednesday.
Pakistan got the upper hand in the 11th minute of the game as forward Hassan Shahbaz scored a well-placed field goal.
Both Pakistan and China lost penalty corners twice, failing to convert them into goals till the interval of the game.
Ali Hanzala scored the second goal of the game for the green shirts in the third quarter, providing an edge to the visiting side.
Jiaxing Lin converted a penalty corner in the same minute to reduce the deficit to 2-1. The result left Pakistan at the top of Group A, having collected 12 points with a goal difference of +21.
Throughout their campaign, they scored 25 goals and conceded just four.
Earlier, the Pakistan Under-18 Hockey team reached the semi-final of the Asia Cup by defeating Bangladesh.
Pakistan secured an easy win by a commanding 6-3 victory over Bangladesh and bagged first position in its group.
Abdullah Awan and Ali Hunzala hit the goal post two times, while Asam Haider and Atif Ali contributed one goal each.
The opponent’s goals were scored by Ismail Hussain and Din Islam, who netted twice and once respectively.
