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| January 31, 2003 | Friday | Ziqa’ad 27, 1423 |
Overwhelming victories for NBP and PIA
HBL 6 Sargodha 1
NBP 19 Islamabad 0
Karachi ‘B’ 2 Rawalpindi 3
PIA 10 Peshawar 1
KARACHI, Jan 30: Habib Bank (HBL) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) strengthened their positions after convincing victories in the 50th national hockey championship at UBL Sports Complex Thursday.
HBL breezed past Sargodha 6-1, while NBP crushed Islamabad 19-0 to remain in contention for a place in the quarterfinals.
In a match which provided plenty of thrill, Karachi `B’ surrendered against Rawalpindi 3-2 after battling hard in the second half in which they also failed to convert a penalty stroke.
PIA opened their defence campaign in style when they hammered Peshawar 10-1 in their first match of the tournament.
KARACHI ‘B’ V RAWALPINDI
The local outfit paid heavily for a sluggish start as Rawalpindi went ahead 3-0 before breather. The visitors started with a Kazim Abbas goal scored from the close range in the 23rd minute.
It was followed by another from Jameel Asif off a penalty corner four minutes later, while Kazim got his double to increase the lead just after a minute.
Three goals shook Karachi `B’ who reduced the margin in the 53rd minute through promising Imran Khan whose powerful reverse flick landed into the net.
The home side should have netted their second when they were awarded a stroke after a visiting defender felled Imran in the circle who was shaping to score with a reverse hit.
Karachi ‘B’ were left kicking themselves as they missed the opportunity when Rawalpindi goalkeeper Saleem Ahmad stopped the penalty stroke taken by skipper Ebad Hussain in the 60th minute.
Falak Bose Ansari finally got the second in the 65th minute, but that did not prove enough for the home side who failed to secure the much-needed point.
Adeel Hussain of Karachi `B’ was named player of the match.
HBL V SARGODHA
Asad Qureshi’s third-minute goal opened HBL account, while the bankers scored three more to make the score 4-0 at the end of the first half.
Pakistan striker Kashif Jawwad, who netted twice, slotted home his first in the 8th minute, Mohammad Khalid was on target in the 16th minute, and Kashif got his double a minute later.
HBL also missed another scoring opportunity when Asad’s failed to convert a 41st-minute stroke.
The star-studded bankers, however, went further ahead through Sameer Hussain in the 49th minute and Ejaz Rasool completed the tally after being set up by Sameer in the 53rd minute.
Sargodha’s only goal came through their captain Imran Zafar off a short corner in the 58th minute.
HBL’s Javed Mazhar was adjudged player of the match.
NBP V ISLAMABAD
NBP, who raced to a 8-0 lead before the break, got off to a flying start with a Imran Warsi goal through a penalty corner with the game only three minutes old.
Six-goal Naeem Akbar, also named player of the match, was the pick of NBP attack, found the target twice, first scoring in the 8th minute, and then in the 12th minute.
Asif Ahmad’s 14th-minute goal was followed by another by Naeem after four minutes, while Asif again came into action in the 23rd minute. Adnan Zakir slammed home in the 29th and 31st minutes to make it 8-0 before going for the break.
The bankers maintained their goal-rush yet into the second session as they resumed Islamabad’s punishment with a two quick goals in the 40th and 42nd minutes through Imran and Adnan.
NBP continued to punish Islamabad with some more goals in quick succession as Adnan again had his name onto the scoresheet in the 47th minute, Asif banged home in the 49th minute, Naeem scored in the 50th and 52nd minutes.
The target practice by the bankers continued as Adnan (55th minute), Jawaid Iqbal (58th minute), Naeem (59th minute), Imran (62nd minute), and Jawaid (66th minute) completed the rout.
PIA V PESHAWAR
It was smooth flying for fancied PIA as they started the blitz with five goals before interval.
Having the services of Shahbaz Ahmad, Raheem Khan, Kamran Ashraf, Mohammad Usman, Atif Bashir, Ahmad Alam, Malik Shafqat, PIA proved too strong for hapless Peshawar.
Atif, who recently retired from international hockey, found the net in the 10th minute, Inam-ur-Rahman was on target in 14th minute, Raheem scored in the 25th minute and 33rd minutes, while Irfan Mahmood netted a minute before break.
Goals from Shahbaz (42nd minute), Kamran (52nd minute) were followed by a solitary goal three minutes later from Peshawar through Zia-ur-Rahman, the player of the match.
Kamran got his second in the 57th minute, Mohammad Farooq and Mohammad Aqeel found the cage in the dying minutes of the game to complete the scoring.
Meanwhile, according to changes made by the organizers, the semifinals of the championship will now be played on Feb 4 instead of Feb 5 because of Kashmir Day. After the changes Feb 5 will now be the rest day.
According to another change, Allied Bank and Wapda, who were scheduled to meet on Feb 2, will now play each other a day earlier at 12.00pm.
Friday’s fixtures:
Islamabad v Gujranwala at 9.00am; PTCL v PIA at 11.00am; HBL v Pakistan Army at 2.00pm; NBP v Police at 4.00pm.
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