The Pakistan

  Pakistan men’s hockey team on Wednesday, stormed into the FIH Nations Cup semi-final despite Malaysia’s victory over Japan in the last Pool B match, held here at the National Hockey Stadium. The green shirts earlier played their last league-stage match against New Zealand and suffered a narrow 4-3 defeat, which put them languishing on the outcome of the subsequent fixture.  Malaysia, placed third in the standings with one point and a goal difference of negative one after two matches, needed to beat Japan by a margin of two goals to topple Pakistan’s goal difference to secure second spot, which would have earned them semi-final qualification. Although they managed to beat Japan 2-1, it meant that their goal difference could not surpass that of Pakistan, who joined New Zealand from Pool B to reach the final four. The green shirts will now face Pool A leaders France in the first semi-final on Friday, while New Zealand and Korea will lock horns in the other knockout fixture late...