LAHORE - Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) registered thumping victory in their match against Port Qasim Authority (PQA) while Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Sindh played 1-1 draw in their match of the 62nd National Hockey Championship at the Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP) Stadium on Friday.
According to Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) press release, PIA thrashed Port Qasim Authority 5-1. Despite the presence of Shakeel Abbasi in their ranks, PQA failed to match with the skill and experience of the PIA team who dominated the proceedings of the match since beginning. M Zubair scored a goal on the penalty corner in the 6th minute. Amir Shehzad scored a field goal in the 20th minute to double the lead.
Atif Mushtaq’s field goal in the 25th minute consolidated the position of the airliners. Captain M Irfan scored fourth goal for his team in the 28th minute and Nasir Aslam slammed fifth goal in the 38th minute to give PIA 5-0 lead in the third quart. PQA’s lone goal was scored on a penalty corner by M Azhar in the 44th minute. Waqas Butt and Sajid supervised the match.
Sindh forced an immediate attack on their opponents as the first match of the day started after Jumma prayer. Sindh got a penalty corner in the first minute which was converted by Yasir Ali. After that they went on to the defensive which provided HEC chances to attack. Particularly, HEC forwards demonstrated a fair amount of aggression in the second quart and earned two penalty corners as well but failed to level the score.
Both teams fought hard to keep ball possession in the third quart. In the 36th minute HEC missed a fair chance in the circle when their forward failed to deflect a pass. However, in the 43rd minute Abid, Sajid and Rashid made a beautiful move amid short passes which created an opportunity in the Circle where Rashid slammed a beautiful field goal. Anwar and Ghufran were the field umpires.