KARACHI     -   Wapda Whites edged Pakistan Army 5-4 in the 65th Muhammad Noor Khan National Hockey Championship 2019 quarterfinal here at Abdul Sattar Edhi National Hockey Stadium on Thursday.

It was highly respectable crowd present at the venue right from the very first quarterfinal, which started at 9am. Army dominated the first quarter and could have scored two or three goals, but poor finishing in front of goal denied them of scoring early goals, which cost them dearly in the end, as Wapda Whites emerged as winners.

Adnan Anwar was hero for the winners, as he not only scored two goals, but was also involved in assisting in other three goals. Wapda Whites took 2-1 lead by the end of the second quarter, but Army bounced back in style, thanks mainly to two-star Awais Zahid to square the things. It was a nail-biting encounter, which went right down to the wire.

Just when it seemed things were heading towards extra time, Rana Waheed scored the winner in the dying moments of the match. Besides Adnan’s two goals, Shahjee Ahmed, Adnan Babar and Rana Waheed scored a goal each for Wapda Whites while for Army, Awais scored a brace and Abdul Zabbar and Amjed Ali scored a goal each.

In the second quarterfinal, Abu Bakar was the hero, as NBP edged Navy 1-0 to land a place in the semifinals. Both the sides fought gallantly and there was nothing to separate both till the magic moment came when Abu Bakar from nowhere stunned Navy players as he scored a wonderful solo goal, which was enough to seal the fate of Navy.

In the third quarterfinal, Wapda beat PIA 3-2. Both the teams were not only evenly balanced, but also had the services of national players. Wapda started the first quarter well and soon had 1-0 lead, thanks to Sami Ullah, but PIA bounced back in style. Shahzaib was the unsung hero, as he scored both goals for PIA, if he had any kind of support from other players, he could have turn the situation of the match into PIA’s favor.  It was 1-1 after the end of the first 15 minutes and the score remained the same after the second quarter. The third quarter saw Wapda taking lead from player of the match Haleem Usman, who scored two goals, his first goal gave Wapda 2-1 lead, but Shahzaib again level the match as he scored a superb field goal, but Haleem had last laugh for Wapda, as he scored the winner from short corner.

In the fourth and last quarterfinal, three-star Mubahsir Ali helped SSGC crush Army Whites 5-0. Mubashir played wonderful hockey and showed glimpses of some of the past greats. He scored the first goal in the 10th minute, second in 24th minute while completed hat trick in the 34th minute. The goal-scoring never ended as Ghazanffar and Abbas Haider put more misery on Army Whites, as they both scored a goal apiece to help SSGC grab a place in the semi-finals.  Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) President Brig (R) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar has changed the fixtures as a private sports channel will broadcast final live on Monday August 5, while semifinals will be played on August 4 (Sunday). Wapda Whites will take on NBP on Sunday in the first semifinal at 2:00pm, while Wapda will face SSGC in 2nd semifinal on the same day at 4:30pm.