Ipoh: Asian Games gold medalists Pakistan asserted their strength by scoring thrice in the final 10 minutes to edge past joint defending champions South Korea 4-2 in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Friday.
Trailing 1-2 until the 60th minute, Pakistan went all out into the attack to create several openings and succeeded in breaching the Korean defence thrice for their second victory in the tournament.
Pakistan had defeated New Zealand by a similar margin in the tournament-opener on Thursday and South Korea had prevailed 3-2 over India in the match featuring the joint winners of last year.
Hyun Hye-Sung converted two penalty corners in the 13th and 46th minutes for South Korea, while Rehan Butt scored an opportunistic goal for Pakistan in the 21st minute.
Pakistan's rally began in the 61st minute when penalty corner ace Sohail Abbas scored his first goal of the tournament with a drag flick to restore 2-2 parity.
Abdul Haseem Khan capitalized on the confusion in the Korean defence when he managed to take a second strike in open play after picking up a long diagonal ball in the 63rd minute to put Pakistan in the lead for the first time in the game.
Continuing to assert themselves, Pakistan's strikers opened up a couple of more openings in the last two minutes and Waqas Akbar picked up Muhammad Zubair's pass to sound the boards with eight seconds to go for the hooter.
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