Favourite to clinch the title of the Asian Champions Trophy, which started in Doha (Qatar) on Thursday, the green-shirts recorded a convincing 8-3 victory against Oman in the high scoring match in their first match of the tournament at the Al-Rayyan Hockey Stadium. Seasoned Shakeel Abbasi performed well in the match and scored a hat-trick for Pakistan. Waqas Sharif also performed brilliantly scoring two goals.

Meanwhile, Abdul Haseem Khan, Rizwan Khan Junior and Mohammad Imran scored one goal each. The tournament comprises six top teams from Asia - Pakistan, China, India, Oman, Malaysia and Japan. Meanwhile, defending champions India thrashed China recording a convincing 4-0 triumph.

Pakistan is favourite to clinch the title as the team has recently clinched bronze medal in Champions Trophy in Australia. Pakistan currently at No 5 in the international arena. India trails at No 11 in the international circuit. Pakistan has defeated India in the third place playoff match of Champions Trophy, held recently in Australia. It is expected that the arch-rivals would qualify for the summit clash of the regional tournament.

Copyright Pakistan Press International, 2012