LAHORE - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) conjured up victories against their opponents in the ongoing 62nd National Hockey Championship at the Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP) Stadium on Wednesday.
KP defeated Punjab 2-1, PAF subdued Police 6-1 and PIA thrashed Sindh 7-0 in one-sided matches. While the last match between Customs and PTV ended into a thrilling 1-1 draw. Both the teams got one point each.
KP outclassed Punjab in the opening match. Mohib opened the account for KP in the 20th minute with a field goal and in the 41st minute Amjad-ur-Rehman doubled the lead with another field goal. Punjab boys launched a number of attacks in an attempt to reduce the margin. They got six penalty corners and availed one in the 57th minute when Ehtisham successfully converted it. Faisal and Sajid supervised the match.
Mushtaq of PAF scored a hat-trick to lead his team to a comfortable victory against Police. Airmen exerted pressure in the beginning of the match which they maintained till the end. They got seven penalty corners and converted five. Airmen scored their first goal on a penalty corner in the 11t minute. Mushtaq scored his second and third goals, all on penalty corners, in the 20th and 22nd minutes. Captain Saeed Shah and Asif Manzoor also successfully converted penalty corners in the 22nd and 54th minutes. In the 43rd minute Samiullah netted a beautiful field goal. From Police, M Ammad scored the lone goal in the 29th minute. Zahid and Fazal Manan supervised the match.
Airliners enjoyed supremacy throughout their match against Sindh. M Zubair opened the account for his team through a field goal in the 6th minute. Shafqat Rasool’s field goal in the 7th minute doubled the lead and Ihsanullah’s successful conversion in the 16th minute consolidated PIA’s grip on the match. In the 30th minute, Atif Mushtaq netted a field goal on a pass from Abu Bakar. Shafqat slammed his second field goal in the 42nd minute. Waseem Akram and M Irfan scored one field goal each in the 48th and 51st minutes. From Sindh, Khizar Akhtar made a futile attempt to reduce the margin in the last quart. M Asif and Kamran MP were the field umpires.
The last match of the day between Customs and PTV produced real entertainment for the crowd. Both the teams demonstrated excellent stick work. They launched calculated attacks against each other which won applauds from the spectators. Though Customs dominated the proceedings of the match yet their slackness denied them a well-deserved victory. In the 34th minute of the match, Customs’ Asim Khan scored the only goal for his team on a penalty corner. PTV forwards tried hard to level the score but their attacks were frustrated by the opposition. PTV missed a chance in the 56th minute to level the score on a late pass from Shuja to Waqas. However, in the 59th minute of the match, a beautiful move by their captain M Fayyaz and Shuja earned a penalty corner which was successfully converted by Adnan. Hamza and Atif Malik were the field umpires. Today (Thursday)’s matches: Wapda vs Steel Mills, Railways vs HEC and Police vs Navy.