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| January 29, 2002 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 14, 1422 |
Sindh ‘A’ march into quarterfinals
Sindh ‘A’ 6 NWFP ‘B’ 2
Railways 2 Balochistan ‘B’ 0
PEB 1 Islamabad 0
KARACHI, Jan 28: Sindh ‘A’ recovered from one goal down to blitz NWFP ‘B’ 6-2) and qualify for the quarterfinals of the Junior Under-18 National Hockey Championship at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Monday.
Sindh ‘B’ were joined by Pakistan Education Board (PEB) who rode on Suhrab’s seventh minute goal to beat Islamabad 1-0 and Railways who pumped in two second half goals to defeat Balochistan 2-0.
Army had reached the knockout stage Sunday.
After two drab matches earlier in the day, Sindh `A’ set the field alight with excellent hockey. The attackers combined nicely to put pressure on NWFP `B’ defenders who despite conceding six goals put up a tough resistance.
Sindh boys also displayed good penalty corner drills and managed to score from one with precise indirect try.
But before Sindh could get the feel of the conditions, NWFP forward Saeed Shah sounded the board to put his team 1-0 ahead. However, Sindh bounced back four minutes later when Rizwan Khan combined well with his wingers to score the equalizer.
Iftikhar Junior, a minute before lemon time, put his team 2-1 in front after toying with NWFP defenders and finding the cage by wrong footing the goalkeeper.
Three minutes into the second half, Sindh surged 3-1 ahead when Shabbir Khan found the net but NWFP reduced the margin through Saeed once again who converted a penalty corner in the 49th minute.
But that was the last time NWFP came close to Sindh who banged home three goals in nine minutes to seal the fate of the match.
In the 50th minute, Mudassar Abbas slammed home with an indirect penalty corner and then Al-e-Hasan scored twice in a space of seven times, first with a precise carpet shot from on top of the D and then after flicking the ball between the legs of the goalkeeper.
Sindh secured four penalty corners while NWFP earned six.
Railways, who took on Balochistan `B’ in the morning match, remained unimpressive in their 2-0 victory.
Most of the action remained in the centre of the field and was dominated by wayward hitting and poor stopping.
After a goalless first half, Railways broke the ice when skipper Mohammad Irfan converted the seventh penalty corner. Four minutes later, Nadeem Junior scored from a solo effort to put his team 2-0 ahead and that’s how the match ended.
In the afternoon match, Islamabad dominated the proceedings against PEB but still went down 1-0. The boys from the federal capital were themselves to be blamed for as they squandered numerous goal scoring opportunities owing to poor finishing.
PEB, who scored in the seventh minute through Suhrab, preferred to defend the lead and in the meantime conceded 10 penalty corner only to thwart all Islamabad efforts for an equalizer.
Tuesday’s fixtures: Balochistan ‘A’ v Sindh ‘B’ at 10.30am, PTCL v NWFP ‘A’ at 1.45pm, Police v Punjab ‘B’ at 3.15pm
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