January 6, 2003	Monday	Ziqa’ad 2, 1423

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KARACHI, Jan 5: Dazzling hat tricks by Wasif Raza and Ishtiaq helped Karachi ‘A’ march towards main round after a 24-0 thrashing of Mekran in the 50th national hockey championship qualifiers on Sunday.

Lahore remained in contention after they annihilated Naseerabad 24-0 in the first game of the day, while Sargodha, aided by two goals from Zahid Hussain, outplayed Kohat 2-0 at UBL Sports Complex.

Karachi ‘A’, Lahore and Sargodha, after playing four matches, have emerged as top three outfits of the tournament.

Sargodha are most likely to qualify as they have accumulated nine points and will meet one of the weakest teams in the contest, Naseerabad, in the fifth and the last match on Tuesday which they should win.

Karachi ‘A’ and Lahore having 12 and nine points respectively will be battling for the main round ticket when they face each other in the last match.

A victory or even a draw against Lahore will take Karachi ‘A’ into the final round, but the home side can’t afford to lose as Lahore will then qualify on a better goal average.

Although the game between Karachi ‘A’ and Mekran, was nothing but a one-sided affair, hat tricks by Wasif and Ishtiaq were the feature of the day.

The home side opened their account when the game was barely one minute old through Zia-ul-Islam. The second came a minute later when Izhar Ahmad got into the act.

Karachi ‘A’ went 10-0 ahead before halftime slamming in eight more goals. Adnan Najam scored off a penalty corner in the eighth minute, Mansoor found the cage in the 12th minute, Asadullah was on target two minutes later.

The local side fired another four-goal burst when Ishtiaq converted a short corner in the 22nd minute and Izhar and Zia slotted home in the 23rd minute, and then Nisar Ahmad secured the next one. Wasif banged home his first on 30 minutes.

The unstoppable Wasif was on the rampage soon after restart as he tore Mekran defence apart and sounded the backboards four times in the 37th, 38th, 42nd and 43rd minutes to complete his hat trick.

Ishtiaq followed suit and went berserk to score what was the second hat trick of the encounter. After two quick goals in the 48th and 49th minutes, Ishtiaq netted another to complete his treble in the 55th minute.

The goals did not stop coming from Karachi ‘A’ who blasted hapless Mekran to smithereens with Imran Khan finding the net in the 56th and 60th minute and then Ishtiaq chipping in with another in the 62nd minute.

Wasif’s 66th-minute effort was followed by goals from Izhar (67th minute), Zia (68th minute), and Nisar (69th minute).

Lahore commenced the goal-rush by scoring 10 goals before the halftime whistle. Zulfiqar’s 7th-minute raid was followed by two from Asif Bilal in the 10th and 12th minutes. Lahore went further ahead with Rizwan Butt netting in the 15th, Raza Mohiuddin in the 18th minute, Asif getting another in the 21st, and Zubair Riaz on 23 minutes.

Hafeezullah sprang into action in the 25th minute, Rizwan-ul- Haq converted a penalty stroke in the 32nd minute, while Hafeez was again on target a minute before break.

Naseerabad resembled a punching bag going into the second session as Lahore launched brutal assaults by pumping in 14 more times.

Hafeez (36th minute), Rizwan Butt (37th minute), Zubair (38th minute), Rizwan Butt (39th, 44th minutes), Sher Zaman (49th minute), Rizwan-ul-Haq (52nd minute), Hafeez (54th minute) helped increased the lead.

Rizwan-ul-Haq (56th minute), Atif Baig (58th minute), Zulfiqar (60th minute), Hafeez (62nd minute), Sher Zaman (65th minute) and Zubair (70th minute) then completed Naseerabad’s misery.

Sargodha’s Zahid broke the ice against Kohat four minutes before the lemons, slamming the board through a reverse flick after a right side cross.

Zahid got his double with a reverse hit, again after being fed from right following a goalmouth melee in the 47th minute.

Sargodha’s skipper Imran Zafar and Mudassir of Kohat were involved in a scuffle after a rough tackle in the 54th minute. The game, however, resumed after a few minutes after the duo were cooled down by their teammates.

Monday will be rest day.

Tuesday’s fixtures: Sargodha v Naseerabad at 11.30am; Mekran v Kohat at 1.30pm; Lahore v Karachi 3.30pm.