Hosts Qatar made it through to the semi-finals of the men’s Indoor Asia Cup Hockey tournament yesterday, courtesy a late goal by Anwar Mohamed from a penalty corner against Malaysia. The 5-4 win helped Maggid Abu-Talib’s men leapfrog Malaysia in the Pool A standings to take second spot behind Iran. Qatar registered first on the scoreboard with Sheraz Ali scoring past Malaysian goalkeeper Khairul Kamaruzaman in the 6th minute. The lead doubled with Savio Stevenson scoring off a penalty corner in the 15th minute. Norsyafiq Sumantri pulled one back for Malaysia, before Mohamed Sami Ullah ensured that the home team went into the break with a 3-1 lead. The second half saw the Malaysians starting off with a renewed vigour, equalising within the first six minutes courtesy goals by Shafiq Yaacob and Amirol Arshad. A minute later, Mustafa Mohamed restored the lead off a field goal. Najib Hasan put Malaysia on an even keel in the 34th minute and status quo would have meant that the Malaysians would have gone through to the last-four stage. However, Anwar Mohamed’s shot past Kamaruzaman in the 38th minute meant that Qatar are at least assured of matching their fourth place finish in the last edition of the tournament in 2015 in Kazakhstan. Qatar will play Pool B topper Kazakhstan in the second semi-final today, with their previous encounter ending in a win for the latter in 2015.
