March 19, 2002	Tuesday	Muharram 4, 1423

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                                              Sindh ‘B’    7   Sindh ‘A’   2

                                              Punjab ‘B’  2   Punjab ‘A’ 1

                                              Wapda        1   PTCL         0

                                              Police        11   PTV            6

                                              NFB            9   PAF            2

                                             Army            2   Railways    2

KARACHI, March 18: Plucky Sindh ‘B’ topped with a 7-2 beating of Sindh ‘A’ in the 49th HBL national hockey championship inter-provincial preliminary round Monday.

In a third and fourth position match, Imtiaz Ahmad’s sudden death goal helped Punjab ‘B’ finish third who were locked at 1-1 against Punjab ‘A’ during regulation time.

Sindh ‘A’ and Sindh ‘B’ were the winners of their respective pools, while Punjab ‘A’ and Punjab ‘B’ the runners-up of the qualifying round.

The quartet has qualified for the final round of the premier championship which starts March 29 at Lahore.

However, quite a few players during both matches were seen slipping off the Hockey Club of Pakistan’s run-down pitch. Besides, the presence of a school band and irrelevant, continuous announcements on public address system during the matches were a nuisance for the mediamen and the spectators that was against the rules.

The game that proved to be a nightmare for Sindh ‘A’ in the later stage, burst into life when Sindh ‘B’ nimble-footed Shabbir Hussain slammed home in the second minute.

Sindh ‘A’ took seven minutes to put the match on an even keel through their goal-scoring machine Ishtiaq Mobeen. Sindh ‘A’ came close to scoring in the 16th minute but missed a sitter when Mansoor Sheikh squandered a chance from seven yards.

Soaking up pressure, Sindh ‘B’ earned a 21st-minute penalty corner that was converted by Shabbir and followed by five-goal punishment in the second half that flattened Sindh ‘A’.

Sindh ‘A’ would have surely equalised had Zia-ul-Islam’s hit not gone astray in the 29th minute, while a next-minute swift counter-attack from Sindh ‘B’ was thwarted by the Sindh ‘A’ goalkeeper.

Sindh ‘B’, sustained their dominance yet into the second half, just like the way they did in the first period.

Sindh ‘B’ got off with a short burst of two goals in as many minutes. Imran Khan’s rasping hit just outside from the circle was on target in the 37th minute and Mudassir Abbas added the fourth in the 39th minute.

Sindh ‘B’ fought like a well-oiled unit despite playing with ten as Imran Mahmood got marching orders in the 49th minute, while Sindh ‘A’ crumbled when Jawaid Mazhar got a yellow card in the 52nd minute.

It was a 54th-minute Ishtiaq Ahmad goal which was the only joy for Sindh ‘A’ of the second half as Sindh ‘B’ hammered three times in a row within the span of three minutes.

Rizwan Khan, skipper of Sindh ‘B’ was left ruing a clear opening four minutes later, but the spirit and fight disappeared from Sindh ‘A’ when compensation came in the shape of a three- minute salvo.

Imran Khan fired in a 65th-minute field goal, Adnan Hamid did his job well when he stepped in to scoop a penalty stroke in the 66th minute, while Imran Khan finished off with a goal three minutes before the end.