Pakistan’s hockey team produced a brilliant come-from-behind victory to claim bronze at the Asian Games, beating South Korea 5-3 at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium on Saturday, while the volleyball team ended a 64-year wait for a medal.

The medal in hockey arrived a day after heartbreak against bitter rivals India, who edged Pakistan 4-3 in a dramatic semi-final to advance to the gold-medal match against Malaysia.

Pakistan could not have started the bronze playoff better.

Penalty corner specialist Sufyan Khan gave them the lead inside four minutes, converting from a set piece to make it 1-0. The lead did not last, though — Shakeel Moin picked up a yellow card in the seventh minute, and with Pakistan a man short, South Korea levelled through Gangsan Lee in the 12th minute.

Korea then took control, with Yongbok Kim putting them ahead in the 18th minute before Jihun Yang doubled their advantage to make it 3-1 in the 25th.

Pakistan pulled one back right on the stroke of half-time, Abdul Rehman converting a penalty corner to make it 3-2 and keep the contest alive.

South Korea threatened to pull clear again early in the third quarter — Yang had an effort saved, and Lee spurned a clear chance — while at the other end Pakistan pushed for an equaliser without reward.

Abu Mahmood saw a penalty-corner effort saved, Mohammad Ammad had a shot stopped by Korean goalkeeper Jaehyeon Kim, and Pakistan were unable to convert two further penalty corners before the quarter ended with them still trailing 3-2.

Korea looked to be closing the match out early in the fourth quarter, with Yang twice going close from penalty corners, but Pakistan refused to fold.

Rana Waheed levelled the match at 3-3 with a field goal in the 52nd minute, and with under seven minutes left on the clock, struck again from a penalty corner to put Pakistan ahead for the first time since the opening quarter.

Hannan Shahid added gloss to the win with a further goal in the 59th minute, sealing a 5-3 victory and the bronze medal.

The result marks a notable recovery for a team that last won Asian Games hockey gold in 2010 and silver in 2014, giving Pakistan something to build on after Friday’s narrow semi-final defeat to India.

Bronze at last

Earlier, Pakistan’s volleyball team capped their impressive Asian Games run with a bronze medal at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Gymnasium, beating China 3-0 to end a 64-year wait for a medal in the sport — their first since claiming bronze at the 1962 Jakarta Games, behind Japan and India.

The medal came a day after Pakistan’s hopes of reaching the gold-medal match were ended by Iran, the three-time defending champions, who beat them 3-0 in the semi-final. Iran will face host nation Japan in the gold-medal match.

Pakistan, needing to beat China to secure the bronze, did so in straight sets: 25-18, 25-16, 25-18.

Opposite hitter Murad Khan led the way with 18 points. Outside hitters Afaq Khan and Ali Usman Faryad added 14 apiece, with Musawer Khan contributing eight; Mohammad Hamad and Hamid Yazman also added three.

China opened the first set with a block at the net and the sides traded evenly until 4-4, before China pulled ahead 7-4.

Pakistan’s defence steadied the ship, levelling at 9-9, and the set stayed tight as the lead changed hands more than once; Pakistan briefly went ahead 11-10 before China hit back with two straight points to lead 12-11.

From there, though, Pakistan took over.

They built a two-point cushion at 16-14, stretched it to 19-15 as their spiking began to click, and kept improving their serve-receive as the set slipped away from China.

Pakistan closed it out 25-18 in 21 minutes.

The 26-year-old Murad top-scored in the set with six points, Ali Usman added four, and Afaq and Musawer chipped in three apiece.

The second set followed a similar script early on — level at 4-4 before China again moved ahead 7-4 — but a timeout appeared to settle Pakistan’s nerves.

They came back to level at 8-8, then took the lead for good at 10-9.

From there the gap only grew: 16-11, then 19-13, then 23-15, with Pakistan’s attacking numbers doing the talking — their spikes were landing successfully 75 per cent of the time (33 of 44 attempts) compared to just 45 per cent for China (17 of 38), and Pakistan out-blocked China five to three at the net.

Pakistan wrapped up the set 25-16 in 20 minutes.

Murad and Afaq both scored six points in the set, while Musawer, Mohammad Hamad and Ali Usman added two each.

Pakistan carried that momentum straight into the third, racing to a 6-1 lead before China briefly responded to close to 7-6.

Pakistan pushed on regardless, building leads of 10-6, then holding off a China fightback that twice closed the gap to within a point or two, before pulling clear again at 15-12 and 18-14.

The lead stretched to 22-17, and after that China could only manage a single further point as Pakistan closed out the set — and the match — 25-18 to confirm the bronze medal.

The statistics told the same story as the previous two sets: Pakistan’s spike success rate was 69 per cent (15 of 22) to China’s 39 per cent (10 of 26), and Pakistan recorded six blocks in the set to China’s none.

Ali Usman and Murad led the scoring in the decisive set with six points each; Afaq and Hamid Yazman scored four each, while Musawer and Hamad added two apiece.

The result marks the finest Asian Games showing in Pakistani men’s volleyball history outside of that 1962 bronze, and comes on the back of a strong campaign that also included wins over Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and India before the semi-final defeat to Iran.

Early exits in taekwondo and wrestling

There was no such joy in taekwondo or wrestling.

Hamzah Omar Saeed lost his men’s +80kg taekwondo round-of-16 bout 2-0 to Jack Mercer of Thailand at the Toyohashi Gymnasium.

In wrestling, Inayat Ullah went down to Kazakhstan’s Nurkozha Kaipanov 12-2 by technical superiority in the men’s freestyle 74kg match at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre, while Mohammad Gulzar suffered the same fate against Iran’s Amirali Azarpira, losing 10-0 in the men’s freestyle 97kg bout.