Lahore - National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) won the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) All-Pakistan Hockey Championship 2018 trophy after beating spirited Wapda in a penalty shootout after a full-time 4-4 draw here at the National Hockey Stadium on Sunday.
Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Kaleem Shaukat was the chief guest on the occasion and witnessed the match with keen interest. Also present on the occasion were Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) President Brig (R) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, Secretary Shahbaz Ahmad Senior and officials of Punjab Hockey Association (PHA).
The finale presented an exciting duel between country's top two sides in front of a charged sizeable holiday crowd. Thrice National Bank went two goals ahead and each time Wapda reduced the margin to one. Eventually, with just two minutes left, Wapda made it 4-4 to send the match into shootout. Here again, it ended equal after five shoots had been taken by the each side. Finally, bankers won the final in an exciting manner in sudden death shootout.
The NBP made the initial inroads. In the 3rd minute, Bilal Qadir squandered a good chance with a poor shot. Four minutes later, he made amends by putting his side ahead with a good finish-off a fine move. Within two minutes, a banker forward was felled in the Wapda circle. The resulting penalty stroke was calmly converted by their captain Ammad Shakeel Butt, wrong footing the goalkeeper.
Having a never-say-die approach, Wapda reduced the margin in the 17th minute. A swift left side move culminated in Ajaz Ahmed flicking the ball in. But just three minutes later, the NBP restored the two goal advantage. A brilliant aerial ball covering more than 50 metres was collected well by Dilber near the Wapda circle and put it past the onrushing goalkeeper. It was 3-1 at half time in favour of the NBP.
The third quarter saw spectacular hockey at a fast pace. Just two minutes after the restart, an electrifying Wapda raid rattled the bankers' defence and Irfan Jr slotted in from a close range to make it 3-2. Pole to pole game ensued. Wapda, in particular, utilising both the wings, created some good chances but could not get the desired result because of the the rival custodian Mazhar and poor finishing. Bankers also had a few opportunities. In the 43rd minute, Abubakr made it 4-2 converting his side's first penalty corner with a perfect high flick.
Early in the last quarter, Wapda had a penalty stroke of their own. Lanky international Aleem Bilal flicked it to goal-keeper, making it as 4-3. Wapda also wasted four back-to-back penalty coroners. When they couldn’t make anything out of their seventh PC as well, it seemed all over. NBP also made a few attacks, one of which saw a fast Wapda turn-over of which Shajeeh scored the equaliser in the 58th minute from a close range. It ended 4-4 and Shootout went out in favour of National Bank in the sudden death phase.
In a classification match for the third place, SNGPL beat sister teams SSGC 4-1. From SNGPL, M Farhan, Dawood, Suleman, Faisal Shah struck one goal apiece while the lone goal from Sui Southern came from M Rizwan Junior.
Later, chief guest Vice Admiral Kaleem Shaukat distributed the prizes among the winners and top performers. Winners National Bank earned Rs 500,000, runners-up Wapda received Rs 300,000, third position holders SNGPL got Rs 200,000, player of the tournament Rashid Mahmood (Navy) earned Rs 50,000 while top scorer Aleem Bilal (Wapda) and best goalkeeper Rana Umair (SNGPL) received Rs 25,000 each.