December 25, 2003	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 1, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 24: One semifinal that promises to be an epic thriller and the other that could turn out to be a one-way affair, are set to be played on Thursday in the 39th Prime Minister’s National volleyball championship.

As competitions resume following Wednesday’s rest day at the Liaquat Gymnasium, Wapda who play POF are not expected to face much of a challenge. But that shouldn’t be the case in the second semifinal when champions Army take on 15-time winners Police, a match that is certain to provide the fireworks.

Sadly, of the two sides that have brought colour and excitement to the championship, only one will go through to Friday’s final - such cruel is the nature of modern sport.

Both Army and Police should have been on show in the final but Wapda upset the defending champions on Tuesday to turn things upside down.

The pedigree of Army and Police is such that they have featured in 12 National Championship finals since 1958 and until Tuesday morning both were on course for yet another decider. Wapda, however had other ideas as they crept in to upset the apple-cart.

Except for that defeat which came about in the quarterfinals league, Army otherwise have had an easy passage. Victories in the preliminaries over Higher Education Commission (HEC), Sindh and NWFP and one in the quarterfinals against Navy, were achieved without much difficulty.

Army owed those wins particularly to Muhammad Elahi, Bakht Risal, Zafar Iqbal and Muhammad Sakhi, who have been simply outstanding all through. On Thursday again they would be expected to play their part to perfection and put Army in what will be their side’s third final on the trot.

Police, are the real heavyweights of this championship, and are unbeaten going into the semifinals. The experience among their ranks makes them dangerously good. Muhammad Tufail, Ehsanullah, Sajid Nawaz, Mazhar Hussain and libro Tariq Waseem have been instrumental in their victories all of which have been in straight games except for the match against PAF that went to four.

Runners up for two successive years, Police are a determined bunch and the semifinal provides them a perfect opportunity to avenge the defeats they suffered against Army in the finals of the championship last year and in 2001.

Apart from Police, Wapda are the only other unconquered side and have prospered by scoring victories over Pak Boards, PTCL, Navy and NWFP. Add to this the upset of the championship over Army, and Wapda surely look ominously threatening.

Bidding to win their fifth title, Wapda have some good players in Irfan Nawaz, Shahid Hussaini, Sajjad Ahmed and Jawwad Ahmed to make that happen.

Their opponents POF however, have neither the depth nor the potential to beat them. As it was in their quarterfinals league game against Police on Tuesday, POF went down tamely and it would require a herculean effort from them if they nourish any hopes of going through.

Today’s fixtures: Semifinals: Wapda v POF, Army v Police.