LAHORE      -      Defending champions Pakistan Army won the InterDepartmental National Basketball Championship after beating Pakistan Air Force (PAF) by 76-52 points at Pakistan Sports Complex Islamabad on Tuesday. According to information made available here, Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Ehsan ur Rehman Mazari was the chief guest at the closing ceremony, while Acting Director General Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Muhammad Ibrar, Secretary Army Sports Directorate Col Sadaf Akram, Secretary Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBBF) Khalid Bashir, Organising Secretary Ouj-e-Zahoor, M Azam Dar and other dignitaries were present on the occasion. Army dominated throughout the final and never allowed their opponents to fight back for the championship trophy. Army took a lead of 13 points till the half time with a score of 39-26 points.

Army ace players Muhammad Hamza and Ammar Tughlab played vital role for the champions to retain the championship title as Hamza scored 24 points and Ammar 20 for Army. From PAF, Ahmed Jan scored 21 and Umair Jan 12 points. The third position match was won by Wapda, who outclassed POF by 68-51 points. Wapda led the match at half time by 40-15 points. Speaking on the occasion, IPC Minister Ehsan ur Rehman Mazari encouraged the participants saying the government is trying to promote sports activities in the country and fully support them so that they may win international laurels for Pakistan. He also congratulated the PBBF for conducting national tournaments and showed his full support to the federations in improvingthe standard of basketball in Pakistan.

He said that the federations, which bring medals to the country, will definitely be provided with funds and facilities as well as the services of foreign coaches to improve the standard of the game and players. In all, seven teams participated in the five-day basketball championship, which was organized by the Federal Basketball Association (FBBA) under the umbrella of Pakistan Basketball Federation