January 27, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 17, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 26: Four-goal Arif Hanif helped Karachi Colours steamroll underdogs Makran 13-0 in the National Hockey Championship regional qualifying round which became a bit of a farce with blatant violation of rules on Saturday.

The match, which was the last fixture of the day, was reduced to a joke as the organisers extended the break between the two halves from 10 minutes to half an hour. The organisers deemed it fit to stop the game as they preferred to wait for the arrival of the chief guest.

The Karachi Hockey Association (KHA) officials, who have been entrusted by the Pakistan Hockey Federation to organise the preliminary round on its behalf, didn’t allow the match to re-start as they made elaborate arrangements for the chief guest to be introduced and garlanded by the officials and the players of both the teams.

The National Championship is the premier event of the country and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) rules does not allow more than a 10-minute break between the two halves.

Karachi Colours got off to a flying start as Arif rattled Makran with a goal in the sixth minute followed by his second in the 17th minute. Bilal Ayub found the target for third in the 27th minute, while Arif slotted home his third three minutes before halftime.

The local outfit started the second half like they did in the opening session. Fareed slammed home six minute into second period before Arif sounded the backboard four minute later.

Yasir Ghafoor was on target just four minutes later, while Fareed got his second in the 51st minute. Arif hammered twice home within 60 seconds, Yasir netted his second in the 61st minute, while Bilal slotted home in the 62nd and 69th minute to complete the tally.

Quetta outplayed Sukkur 8-2 in another one-side match.

Jamal opened the scoring for Quetta in the seventh minute before Sukkur’s Imran cancelled out his effort in the 28th minute. Aurangzaib and Mohammad Amin of Quetta were yellow-carded in the 39th minute.

Quetta’s Mohammad Idrees goal in the 44th minute was followed by A. Saleem strike four minutes later. The winners added three more goals through Mohammad Faisal, Amin, and Saleem. Sukkur again reduced the margin when Imran got his second, while Quetta wrapped up the proceedings with Mohammad Zahid and Amin goals.

In a battle between two minnows, Naseerabad emerged 5-0 winners over Mirpurpkhas.

Wasif Siddiqui opened the account in the eighth minute, while Fahad doubled the lead in the 18th minute and Shahzad found the cage in the 24th minute. Zulfiqar Shah came into action in the 62nd minute and Wasif netted his second on a last-minute penalty corner.

Salman Ahmad struck twice in Zhob’s 4-1 victory over Sibi.

The winners started with an Abdul Mannan goal in the 17th minute, while Salman got his double with goals in 23rd and 30th minutes. Sibi scored the consolation goal through Khadim Hussain a minute before break, while Zhob’s Mohammad Iqbal Jr sealed the fate of the match.

Sunday’s fixtures: Makran v Sibi at 9.30am; Karachi Whites v Naseerabad at 11.15am; Karachi Colours v Zhob at 2.00pm; Hyderabad v Kalat at 3.30pm.