November 4, 2001	Sunday	Shaba’an 17, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: The 37th edition of the Royals National Volleyball Championship enters the crucial knockout stage Sunday with Army, Wapda, Police and PAF the four teams on show.

After the last day of the quarter-final league Saturday, defending champions Wapda set up a pre-final date with PAF while favourites Army taking on Police in the second semi-final.

In the day’s opening match POF Wah fought back from a set down to defeat Navy 18-25, 25-21, 25-14 and 25-23 for their third win in four matches. For Navy it was their second straight loss in two days after going down to PAF Friday.

NWFP did well to wallop Punjab who surprisingly were unable to put up the kind of show that they displayed in the game against Police Friday, whom they had extended to four sets.

The Punjab boys playing without a plan virtually handed victory to their rivals on a platter. Only in the first set did they fight a bit which they lost 21-25 and then succumbed in quick time in the following two sets 12-25, 19-25.

The NWFP win, their second of the tournament in four matches, revolved around some fine work done by booster Shah Maluk, smasher Riaz, Ilyas and their libro Rafiq.

Army remained unbeaten in the tournament, thanks to the heroics of Bakht Rasal, Elahi and Naeem, who starred in the 25- 19, 25-16, 25-14 victory over PAF.

The last year’s runners-up did not have to work too hard in beating PAF who tasted their first defeat here after scoring victories earlier against Pakistan Boards, Balochistan, POF and Navy.

The Air Force side made mistakes at the net and erred in spiking. However, for them Alamgir and Iftikhar made some whole- hearted efforts which in the end went in vain.

The Wapda-Police match, played late in the evening, was clearly the top match of the day. Both teams stepped on to the court unbeaten with three wins each but one of them had to lose to decide who would play Army in the semi-final. As it happened, it were the cops who lost what was a gruelling four set match 19- 25, 25-19, 24-26, 27-29.

The tense game saw Wapda take the first set but Police showing fine temperament and composure snatched the second to leave the match interestingly poised.

Wapda with some superb setting by international Irfan Nawaz and spiker Rahim, another top player, helped their side win the next two sets but not before they had been given a tough time by their opponents, who indeed proved hard to beat.

Tufail and Sajid Nawaz excelled for Police in their efforts to avoid playing Army in the semis but these went futile.

Results (quarter-final league):

POF bt Navy 18-25, 25-21, 25-14, 25-23; NWFP bt Punjab 25-21, 25- 12, 25-19; Army bt PAF 25-19, 25-16, 25-14; Wapda bt Police 25- 19, 19-25, 26-24, 29-27.

Sunday’s fixtures (semifinals): Wapda v PAF at 4pm, Army v Police at 5.30pm.