With Iran having brushed aside the Uzbek challenge 12-2 in the first semi-final, the Iranians and the Kazakhs will face off in the final for the second straight edition.
Having reached the final, both the teams have already booked their spot in the World Cup, but Kazakhstan will hope to end Iran’s stranglehold on the tournament, which the latter have won all six times that it has been hosted since 2008.
In the last match of the day yesterday, while Kazakhstan were the first to make it to the scoreboard with a field goal from captain Daulet Urmanov, two goals from Shahid Jamal, one each off a penalty stroke and a penalty corner respectively, gave the hosts a 2-1 lead in the sixth minute.
Tashkeyev equalised, before Urmanov scored off a penalty corner to send his team into the break on a 3-2 high.
Urmanov completed his hat-trick with a goal in the first two minutes of the second half.
Mustafa Mohamed (31st minute) and Sheraz Ali (35th minute) equalised but Tashkeyev scored the winner just two minutes later.
Qatar are assured of at least matching their fourth-place finish from the last edition in 2015, but will be looking to go one better when they take on Uzbekistan today.
The two teams have met twice before, both the times in 2015, including the bronze medal match, and Uzbekistan have won both the times.
“I’m devastated with the loss but we hope to do well and win the third place tomorrow,” Qatar coach Maggid Abu-Talib said after the match.
“Our next project is qualifying for the Asian Games in Jakarta. I hope the team will be kept together and we achieve the aim.”
In the first semi-final, Iran’s Abbas Aroei scored five goals, while Navid Taherirad and Hamid Noraniyan scored hat-tricks.
Noraniyan’s haul sent him on top of the goalscorers’ list with 12 goals.
Khakimboy Khakimov scored a goal on each side of the break for Uzbekistan.
Earlier in the day, Oman beat Thailand 5-3 to set up a 5th-6th place match against Malaysia, who beat Chinese Taipei 9-3 in the first men’s match of the day.
In the women’s section, two goals in the last three minutes of the match by Nur Aisyah Yaacob saw Malaysia snatch a finals spot from Thailand.
After a goalless first half, the action heated up in the last 10 minutes of the game with Thanaporn Tongkham scoring the first goal of the match off a penalty corner to give Thailand a 1-0 lead.
Thailand only needed a draw to go through to the final against an unbeaten Kazakhstan.
However, Yaacob got two past the Thai goalkeeper Sairung Juwong off successive penalty corners to earn three crucial points for her team.
Kazakhstan had made their way to the final after winning the first match of the day against Malaysia 4-2. Irina Dobrioglo scored a hat-trick for the defending champions in the victory.
The two finalists have faced each other twice in this tournament’s final — 2009 and 2014. In the inaugural edition, Malaysia had triumphed while Kazakhstan have won four straight editions in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015.
In their second match of the day, Kazakhstan came back from two goals down to draw with Uzbekistan 2-2.
Kazakhstan coach Amid Muratov rested quite a few players for what was an inconsequential match for them having already booked their place in the final.
Uzbekistan, however, needed a victory for a place in the 3-4 place match but the draw left them one point off North Korea, who won big against China to finish fourth at the round robin stage.
In the second women’s match of the day, North Korea punished China 13-0 courtesy four goals each from Jo Pom Hyang and Pak Un Hyang, while captain Kang Un Gyong added a brace.
At stake in the final is a spot at the Indoor World Cup in Germany next year.
RESULTS
MEN
Malaysia 9 Chinese Taipei 3
Thailand 3 Oman 5
Iran 12 Uzbekistan 2
Kazakhstan 5 Qatar 4
WOMEN
Malaysia 2 Kazakhstan4
China 0 North Korea 13
Kazakhstan 2 Uzbekistan 2
Thailand 1 Malaysia 2
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
MEN
9:30 Chinese Taipei vs Thailand (7-8 place)
12:30 Malaysia vs Oman (5-6 place)
15:30 Uzbekistan vs Qatar (3-4 place)
18:30 Iran vs Kazakhstan (Final)
WOMEN
11:00 Uzbekistan vs China (5-6 place)
14:00 Thailand vs North Korea (3-4 place)
17:00 Kazakhstan vs Malaysia (Final)
