UAE sign off with bronze in football
Junior Whites hold nerves to prevail over Vietnam
Junior Whites hold nerves to prevail over Vietnam on penalties at the 18th Asian Games at Pakan Sari Stadium in Jakarta |
The UAE were stretched into a shoot-out again but held their nerves to beat Vietnam 4-3 on penalties to clinch the bronze in men’s football at the 18th Asian Games at the Pakan Sari Stadium yesterday. Both teams were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
Later, South Korea defeated Japan 2-1 after extra time to claim the gold.
UAE completed their sojourn at the Asian sporting extravaganza with their best-ever haul of 14 medals — three gold, six silver and five bronze.
Ahmad Al Hashmi put the UAE in the lead in the 17th minute, but the equaliser for Vietnam came in the 27th minute through Quyet Van Nguyen.
In the shoot-out, Al Hashmi, Zayed Al Ameri, Khaled Al Dhanhani, Shaheen Al Darmki were all on target for UAE while Thanh van Vu, Chinh Duc Ha, Duc van Phan scored for Vietnam.
The first quarter’s play was confined to a midfield duel. However in the 17th minute, a sudden outburst from Al Hashmi allowed UAE to get the breakthrough.
He made a defence splitting run after latching on to a measured touch from Husain Abdullah. There were four defenders swiftly converging on Al Hashmi but the striker managed to send in a measured grounder which settled into the net past a diving Vietnam goalkeeper Dung Bui Tien.
A pumped up UAE could have doubled the lead within minutes, but Abdullah’s effort from top of the box went wide.
Ten minutes later, van Nguyen put Vietnam on level terms by tapping home from close range after Huy Duc Pham triggered the move from the right. Duc Pham found Toan Van Nguye, who then set it for Thanh van Vu and though the latter’s shot was weak, it found an unmarked van Nguyen to score.
Better share
With UAE going on the defensive, Vietnam could have gone ahead in the 29th minute, had defender Dung Bui Tien directed his header to perfection. After the change of ends, Vietnam had a better share of the ball were well kept at bay by a resilient UAE defence. Goalkeeper Mohammad Al Shamsi stood like a rock and was instrumental in making a couple of saves towards the end.
The match entered into shootout with no extra time and UAE were always going to have an upper hand here, following their previous two wins in a similar manner. The UAE needed penalties to see off Indonesia in the Round of 16 and DPR Korea in the quarter-finals.
The boys remained cool and kept slotting the ball home from the spot with ease. The pressure built on Vietnam as soon as van Nguyen shot wide on the second attempt. Goalkeeper Al Shamsi then blocked the fifth shot from Vuou Tran to trigger wild celebrations in the UAE camp.
UAE coach Maciej Skorza said: “The victory is well deserved after all the work the players have put in all throughout the tournament. The success have come despite team’s only win against East Timor.”
Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan pleaded with the Pakistan Hockey Federation not to come hard on his team following their 1-2 loss to India in the bronze medal match of the 18th Asian Games yesterday.
Japan later rallied to beat Malaysia in a thrilling shootout 4-2 to win the gold. Both teams were tied 6-6 at the end of the regulation time.
“They should not be doing any chopping and changing on the basis of this result. It is my humble request to the federation,” said a dejected looking captain, adding that his team played badly only in the semifinals and whatever performance everyone has seen can be credited to the new coach Roelant Oltmans.
Akashdeep Singh put India in the lead as early as in the third minute before they doubled the lead in the 50th minute, thanks to fine stickwork by Mandeep Singh and the young Harmanpreet Singh.
The 2-0 lead didn’t last long, however, with Mohammad Atiq firing a brilliant field goal catching the India defence napping on a counter.
“This wasn’t the medal for which we came here. But something is better than nothing and we are happy that we are not going back empty-handed. We fought each and every moment of the game for this,” said coach Harendra Singh. “Playing against Pakistan has always been motivational and I am happy that we could get our record straight against them,” he added.
Silver in squash
Indian women’s squash team got a second successive silver medal as they lost to Hong Kong 0-2 in the final. The Indian women’s team of Joshana Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal, Sunayna Kuruvilla and Tanvi Khanna, lost their first two singles matches.
Sunayna lost 1-3 (8-11, 6-11, 12-10, 3-11) to Ho Tze-Lok as Hong Kong led 1-0 in the final. Sunayna had defeated Tze-Lok during a Pool B clash but in the final, the 19-year-old was unable to deliver under pressure. Sunayna was fielded ahead of experienced Dipika due to the latter’s physical toll during Friday’s win over Malaysia in the semi-finals.