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| January 30, 2003 | Thursday | Ziqa’ad 26,1423 |
Imran’s double helps Karachi ‘B’ share spoils
Karachi ‘B’ 2 Sargodha 2
Wapda 9 Faisalabad 2
Army 10 Rawalpindi 1
ABL 9 Multan 2
Customs 6 Islamabad 1
KARACHI, Jan 29: An opportunist second half equaliser from Imran Khan helped Karachi `B’ salvage a 2-2 draw with Sargodha in the 50th national hockey championship at UBL Sports Complex Wednesday.
Penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas’s hat trick propelled Wapda into the quarterfinals with a thumping 9-2 victory over Faisalabad, while Allied Bank (ABL) also reached last eight after crushing Multan by same margin from pool “B”.
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) have already qualified for the quarterfinals from pool “A”.
In other pool matches, Pakistan Army handed a crushing 10-1 defeat to Rawalpindi and Customs got the better of Islamabad 6-1.
The race for a place in the quarterfinals in other pools is still on, although Customs lead pool “C” and Army are at top of pool “D” with six points each.
On paper, Sohail’s hat trick looks the feature of the day, but the performance by Imran eclipsed full-back’s feat as he first scored the opening goal and then rescued the local side from defeat with a late second half strike.
The game burst into life in the 6th minute with Imran’s clinical finish leaving Sargodha goalkeeper well beaten.
After failing to score on a rebound, Karachi `B’ were left ruing after missing a golden opportunity in the 15th minute when Naveed Shafi dodged past two defenders to feed Iftikhar Ahmad who missed twice on rebounds.
Sargodha levelled when their captain Imran Zafar set up Mohammad Azam in the 23rd minute. The equaliser resulted in more pressure from Sargodha who increased their pace and came near scoring twice shortly before the breather.
Sargodha might have gone ahead in the 27th minute through Imran Zafar but were thwarted thanks to some excellent work under the bar by Karachi `B’ goalkeeper Zulfiqar Ahmad.
Imran Zafar again tested Zulfiqar in the 30th minute with a rising hit from the top of the semi circle but it was well saved by the custodian.
While Sargodha maintained their pace and attack yet into the second half, Zulfiqar produced some stupendous saves to keep the rivals at bay. Sargodha raided through Zahid Hussain two minutes into second period but Zulfiqar was alert to smother and make the save.
Imran, who could have grabbed the second for Karachi ‘B’ in the 40th minute, watched in despair as his blistering hit ricocheted off the right goal post and crossed the back-line.
The worst moment for the home side came when the visitors took the lead with Bilal Saeed scoring a short corner in the 49th minute.
Imran, also declared the player of the match, had the last laugh. He darted down the right to snatch the equaliser with a full-blooded hit from the left side of the circle past Sargodha goalkeeper with nine minutes left in the end.
Faisalabad proved easy prey for the formidable Wapda who opened the scoring with an 8th-minute Sohail goal. Shahid Rabbani was next to score barely after 60 seconds, and then in the 21st minute to make it 3-0.
Wapda forged ahead when Waseem Ahmad netted in the 28th minute, promising Pakistan striker Rehan Butt found the cage in the 31st minute, while Sohail was on target two minutes before the lemon time.
Sohail, who converted some four out of 11 penalty corners, completed his hat trick as he slammed home in the 37th and 41st minutes to help Wapda move 8-0 ahead.
Faisalabad reduced the margin with two goals in the 42nd and 51st minutes through Mohammad Imtiaz and Amir Sahi, while Wapda completed the tally with a 58th-minute Waseem goal.
Rana Asif of Wapda was named the player of the match.
Customs found the net thrice to went 3-0 before the break, starting with an 18th-minute goal through Atif Mushtaq. Naeem Ahmad doubled the lead in the 25th minute.
Islamabad got the consolation with Mazhar-ul-Islam scoring in the 28th minute. Customs ended the first half with third goal that came when Shabbir Khan came into action a minute before breather.
Customs added three more after resumption as Mohammad Moazain netted in the 42nd minute, and Shabbir raided in the 61st and 68th minutes.
Mudassir Abbas of Customs was named player of the match.
ABL came with a better performance after a close 2-1 victory over Faisalabad Tuesday and they started with a 4-1 lead before going for the break against Multan.
The bankers got off to a fine start, grabbing the lead through Mohammad Sarfaraz in the 6th minute, Mohammad Sarwar got the second in the 26th minute, while Aleem Raza scored in the 29th minute.
Multan’s first goal came from Mohammad Iqbal in the 31st minute. Zahid Afzal’s goal in the dying moments of the first half increased ABL’s lead to 4-1.
Akmal Naveed (46th minute), Sarwar (49th minute), Asif Bajwa (54th minute), Sarwar (57th, 65th minute) completed the tally. Multan got their second through Sajjad Ahmad a minute before fulltime.
Multan’s Noman Khan was the player of the match.
A 25th-minute goal from Army’s Mohammad Irfan was followed by Shakeel Ahmad goal in the 29th minutes. The soldiers continued the onslaught as Dilawar Hussain (39nd minute), Zaheer (42nd minute), Mohammad Imran (49th minute) enhanced the lead. Rawalpindi’s solitary goal came from Kazim Abbas in the 53rd minute.
Imran (54th minute), Mohammad Asif (58th, 62nd minutes), Mohammad Sajjad (64th minute), and Asif (66th minute), completed Rawalpindi’s punishment.
Rawalpindi’s Rahat Rahman was declared player of the match.
Thursday’s fixtures:
PIA v Peshawar 10.00am; Islamabad v NBP 12.00pm; HBL Sargodha 2.00pm; Rawalpindi v Karachi `B’ 4.00pm.
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