Pakistan's men thrash South Africa to win hockey bronze

04 August 2002

Sohail Abbas fired five goals with his devastating drag flicks to restore Pakistan’s pride as they beat South Africa 10-2.

Sohail Abbas had a wonderful afternoon for Pakistan

Pakistan, humiliated 7-1 by New Zealand in the semi-final, thrashed a listless South Africa 10-2.

Abbas took his tournament total to eight goals as Pakistan bounced back to finish the Games on a high note.

The first goal came in the 11th minute when Abbas drove a high penalty corner past Chris Hibbert and this was quickly added to when Muhammad Shabbir scored from open play.

South Africa fought back as Gregg Clark put his side in contention with a goal from a short corner and Emilie Smith was able to equalise after Greg Nicol set him up.

Just as things were looking up for the South Africans, Abbas scored his second and third goals making the half-time score 4-2.

Two more second half short corner goals from Abbas were added to by Mudassar Khan, Kashif Jawad and Ghazanfar Ali to make the final score a demoralising 10-2 to take bronze and leave South Africa in fourth place.

Info News Service/jb/dm