March 13, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 4,1429

LAHORE, March 12: Reigning champions Pakistan Army removed the first hurdle in retaining the national volleyball title when they outclassed Higher Education Commission (HEC) here on the opening day of the 47th national volleyball championship at the Wapda Sports Complex on Wednesday.

The first day saw five matches being decided.

Army dislodged minnows HEC 25-13, 25-14, 25-12. Zaheer Abbas, Nadeem and Ashraf displayed good blocking for the winners, while HEC got support from Yasir and Sikandar Shah.

Police, with a 25-12, 25-13, 25-14 score, proved too good for Frontier Constabulary (FC). Mohammad Zaman and Zafar Iqbal excelled with fine smashing while Farooq Khan and Gulbaz Khan resisted well for FC.

Navy earned an easy victory against Fata with the score being 25-11, 25-17, 25-15.

Last year’s finalists Wapda, who are a main threat to Army, notched up an impressive win against Sindh, the score being 25-19, 25-12, 25-12.

Wapda’s easy win was mainly due to Mohammad Jawaid and Mohammad Farooq Khan’s good work while Sindh got some useful help from Mazhar Ali and Noman Ali.

Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF) had to face some resistance before they could beat Railways 3-1, the score being 25-18, 25-23, 21-25 and 25-16. After claiming the first two sets with ease, POF lost the winning tempo, allowing Railways to stage a comeback. But Railways, except for winning the third set, could not do much else and lost the fourth set and with it the match.

Ehsanullah and Saadi Ahmad were the most inspiring force in the POF side. Rameez Khan impressed from Railways.

Pakistan Air Force (PAF) defeated Azad Jammu Kashmir 3-0, the score being 25-14, 25-12, 25-9. Six more matches will be played on Thursday.