LAHORE-Lahore and Faisalabad hockey teams reached the final of 1st Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Division Hockey Championship 2021 after winning their nail-biting semifinals here at the National Hockey Stadium on Saturday.
Lahore defeated Sargodha 6-5 on sudden death while Faisalabad beat Bahawalpur by 3-2 in the second semifinal. The title clash of the nine-team tournament will be played on February 9 (Tuesday) here at the National Hockey Stadium.
Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh along with Director Sports Hafeez Bhatti, DSO Lahore Nadeem Qaiser, PHF Chief Selector Manzoor Junior, Head coach of national hockey team Olympian Kh Junaid, Olympian Tauqeer Dar, PHA President Kh Khawar, Secretary Lt Col (r) Asif Naz Khokhar and hockey fans witnessed the closely-fought semifinals.
The first semifinal was played between Faisalabad and Bahawalpur division hockey teams in which Faisalabad edged past Bahawalpur division hockey team by 3-2.M Sajid scored two splendid field goals in the 14th and 49th minutes of the play while Moazzam struck the third one. Bahawalpur division hockey team bounced back in the later stages of the match and struck two goals through M Uzair and Absar bin Rauf in the 50th and 53rd minutes respectively.
Lahore and Sargodha’s second semifinal turned out to be a tense clash after both the teams played a 1-1 draw during the stipulated time. Lahore’s goal was scored by skipper Hannan Shahid through field effort in the 11th minute. Sargodha responded after seven minutes when Ibrar Arshad converted a penalty corner to level the score.
Strikers and goalkeepers of both the teams once again showed great resolve in the penalty shoot outs scoring three goals each for their respective teams. Shahzaib, M Rabiya and M Amar scored for Lahore while Shaheer, Ibrahim Manga and Ibrar Arshad netted three goals for Sargodha.
Then Lahore emerged victorious in the sudden death stage when Sargodha’s Shaheer sent the ball out of goalpost. Lahore’s M Amar, Hannan Shahid and M Rabiya successfully converted their hits into goals. From Sargodha, Ifrahim Manga and IbrarArshad managed to score their goals but Shaheer mistakenly sent the ball out of goalpost that gave Lahore a ticket to the final.