September 12, 2007	Wednesday	Sha'aban 29, 1428

KARACHI, Sept 11: Mohammad Zubair’s winner helped PIA sneak into the All-Pakistan Shaheed-i-Millat Liaquat Ali Khan hockey final with a 2-1 victory over Steel Mills in an ill-tempered semi-final marred by a controversial decision and protest from the losing side on Tuesday.

PIA got off to a flying start when they opened up the scoring in the third minute through Waqas Akbar who picked up a rebound to score off a short corner at the Hockey Club of Pakistan.

Steel Mills took barely 60 seconds to put the game on an even keel as Irfan Khan slammed home the leveller.

However, a scene was created by Steel Mills manager Rashid Ali Khan in the 9th minute when umpire Munawwar Hussain awarded a penalty stroke to PIA after the ball touched a defender’s leg in the circle.

As the Steel Mills players surrounded the umpire, asking him to reverse his decision, Rashid came yelling into the field, using abusive language against umpire Munawwar.

The game was stopped for about six minutes as Steel Mills players refused to resume play and sat near the sidelines in protest.

Rashid’s outburst continued against the umpire and he was later pacified by various officials. Surprisingly, while tournament director Muhammad Shafique was nowhere to be found, it was the organising secretary S.A. Majid who entered the field to talk to the Steel Mills manager.

“While the decision was a wrong one, nobody except the tournament director can enter the field during such a situation,” said Rashid who is also a former international umpire.

The game finally re-started but PIA rued missing the penalty stroke as Zubair’s push was easily saved by Steel Mills goalkeeper Farhan Asif.

The national carriers eventually broke the deadlock when Zubair compensated the penalty stroke loss with an excellent reverse hit from the top of the circle in the 23rd minute.

Tempers once again flared up in the 31st minute when umpire Chowdhry Tanveer disallowed a penalty corner conversion by Steel Mills’ Zia Safdar which certainly seemed to be a goal.

PIA came close to scoring another goal but Mohammad Irfan’s wild try missed the target in the 55th minute. The winners might have gone further ahead had Dilawar Hussain’s try not been saved by Farhan three minutes before time.

Waqas moved from the right but wasted the opportunity to score the third in the dying moments of the game.

Earlier, Shakeel Ahmad’s strike rescued the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) who set up a final date with PIA after a close 3-2 win against the National Bank (NBP) Whites.

The PQA grabbed a shock early lead through Samiullah on a penalty corner with the game barely two minutes old. The NBP took 18 minutes to equalise with a Rizwan Ali field effort and then went 2-1 up 10 minutes into second half when Mohammad Taufeeq slotted home.

The PQA restored parity when Kashif Jawwad scored off a penalty stroke which was awarded after Owais Khan, who was shaping to hit, was hacked in the circle by NBP goalkeeper Shabbir Hussain.

The third goal for the PQA came through Shakeel’s reverse flick which deflected off Shabbir’s glove in the 64th minute.

PQA’s Mohammad Atif had all the time and space to score an easy goal a minute before the final whistle but squandered the chance despite having only Shabbir in between him and the goal.

PIA face the PQA in the final at 3.30pm on Wednesday.