Pakistan claimed bronze at the Men’s U18 Hockey Asia Cup 2026 with an impressive 3-0 win over Malaysia at the Kawasaki Heavy Industries Hockey Stadium on Saturday.
The Green Shirts, who were knocked out of the title race after a grueling 5-3 defeat to India in the semi-finals, made a blazing start to the position play-off when Uzair Ahmad opened their scoring with a sensational field goal just three minutes into the match.
Pakistan continued to control the match despite Adeel receiving a green card late in the first quarter and eventually managed to double their lead in the 23rd minute when Asam Haider successfully converted the penalty.
Five penalty corners were awarded in the third quarter (three for Pakistan and two for Malaysia), but neither team could score and the scoreboard remained intact at 2–0 in favor of the former.
The final quarter also got off to a quiet start until Adeel scored a sensational field goal in the penultimate minute to complete a dominant win for Pakistan, who finished second in the previous edition of the Men’s U18 Hockey Asia Cup last year.
For the unversed, Pakistan started their campaign with a resounding 3-0 win over China before suffering a narrow 3-2 defeat to Malaysia.
The national team then recorded an impressive 5-2 win over Bangladesh to top the Group B rankings and qualify for the semi-finals.
Pakistan squad for U18 Hockey Asia Cup:
Mustafa Ghulam, Haider Asam (c), Saeed Muzammil, Asnan Muhammad, Zaman Muhammad, Akbar Hassan, Sami Rana Abdul, Awan Abdullah, Adeel, Zunair Muhammad, Najeeb Muhammad Yahya, Ullah Shahid, Yasin Salman, Qureshi Uzair Ahmad, Ghani Usman, Usman Muhammad, Aslam Muhammad Farhan and Noman.
