May 24, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 18, 1429

KARACHI, May 23: Only two out of the three matches scheduled for day four of the 6th AKU Inter-university football tournament 2008 could be played on Thursday as Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences, Jamshoro (LUMHS) also pulled out of the event at the last instant.

The reason for LUMHS not participating in the event after all was that the university has closed for vacations and there were no players left to play in the tournament, giving the Group ‘C’ opponents Institute of Business Management (IoBM) a walkover into the quarter-finals. Institute of Business Administration will also be joining them there.

Meanwhile, in the Group ‘A’ match, defending champions Ziauddin Medical University (ZMU) won their encounter with Baqai Medical University (BMU) 1-0 and Liaquat National Medical College (LNMC) tied with Greenwich University (GU) 1-1.

ZMU’s goal came in the 53rd minute after a barren first half when midfielder Yousuf Zakaria’s powerful shot from the right side went directly into the goal.

In the other match, a Group ‘D’ affair, LNMC had rivals GU under pressure from the very start of the match when they scored in the first 25 seconds alone when centre-forward Adnan Munir converted midfielder Uzair Rehman’s pass to him. But LNMC later had to play most of the match with a player short when Uzair was yellow carded twice for two fouls in his D, which resulted in his screaming at referee Mohammad Usman, which earned him the red card.

The score remained 1-0 till the match’s final moments when while tackling the ball out of Greenwich’s possession, LNMC’s right-back defender Khalil-ur-Rehman and midfielder Arif Abu Baker touched the ball.

The hand ball resulted in Greenwich’s getting a penalty stroke in the 58th minute and striker Ahmed Shafiq’s kick towards the right corner of the goal left goalie Zeeshan, who had dived towards the left, with no chance of stopping the ball.

Saturday’s fixtures:

Group ‘D’: Aga Khan University vs Liaquat National Medical College at 3.00pm.

Group ‘A’: Bahria University vs Baqai Medical University at 4.00pm.