May 26, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 20, 1429

KARACHI, May 25: Ziauddin Medical University (ZMU) and Institute of Business Administration (IBA) made it to the semi-finals of the 6th AKU inter-university football tournament at the AKU Ground on Sunday.

Defending champions ZMU qualified for the next phase after scoring a 1-0 win over Greenwich University. The match winning goal came in the 25th minute when midfielder Yousuf Zakaria, after brilliantly dodging one of his opponents, struck a direct 30-yard shot from the box which reached its target when Greenwich’s goalkeeper Kashan Edhi couldn’t get to it in time.

The score-line remained till the final whistle despite valiant attempts by Greenwich to score.

Meanwhile, two players — ZMU’s left back Talal Hussain and Greenwich’s centre midfielder Ahmed Saigol — were shown the way out by match referee Abdul Karim when Talal not realising that Ahmed no longer had possession of the ball, tackled him which resulted in their clashing with each other and hence the red cards. Thus, Talal would have to miss the semi-final.

The second quarter-final turned out be a one-sided affair as IBA overwhelmed JMDC 5-0 without too much resistance from their opponents.

IBA opened scoring through a penalty which was awarded in the 18th minute due to a hand ball decision inside the box. The kick was taken by midfielder Ather Ahmed Khan, which JDMC’s goalie Narius Virjee failed to block.

The second goal came in the 24th minute through striker Asad and the next one was provided by striker Imran Ahmed in the 29th minute to leave the score 3-0 at interval.

IBA scored twice after the break. The fourth one coming in the 32nd minute by captain Omar Hasan Khan, who was playing at centre midfield, with the assistance of right-winger Sameer Zafar.

Sameer then went on to contribute the last goal of the match in the 53rd minute through solo effort.

The remaining two quarter-finals are slated for Monday.

Monday’s fixtures:

Third quarter-final: Institute of Business Management v Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine at 4.00pm.

Fourth quarter-final: Aga Khan University v Bahria University at 5.00pm.