August 26, 2008	Tuesday	Sha’aban 23, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 25: Islamabad, Navy, Police and Sindh registered wins in the four matches played on the inaugural day of the 8th National Men’s Netball Championship 2008 here at the City Sports Complex, Kashmir Road on Monday.

The first match between Balochistan and Islamabad was won by Islamabad 13-9 thanks to the outstanding teamwork of Goal Shooter (GS) Farhan who contributed seven goals for the winners and his partner Goal Attack (GA) Mohsin, who added another six to the winners’ tally of 13.

In reply Balochistan could only come up with nine in which six were contributed by GA Zulfiqar and three by GS Malik.

The second match between Navy and NWFP, a totally one-sided affair, saw the sea men thrash the team from up north 35-8. Twenty-five goals were scored by shooter Ghulam Mustafa, who gave NWFP’s goalie Adil a very tough time, and the remaining 10 came through his partner attacker Shaharyar.

NWFP’s eight came through GS Waqar (seven goals) and GA Awaid (one).

The third encounter saw Police triumph over Punjab 21-13. GS Wahid Kherio (10 goals) and GA Zahid (11 goals) were the goal scorers for Police while Punjab’s tally of 13 came through their attacker Zubair (nine goals) and shooter Shahzad (four goals).

The last match of the day was a close finish when Sindh beat wapda 22-20. Hafiz, playing as the goal shooter for Sindh, scored 15 goals with GS Shaz bringing in the remaining seven.

GA Akhtar (12 goals) and GS Yawar (eight goals) were the scorers for Wapda.

Earlier, a colourful ceremony marked the start of the Pakistan Netball Federation (PNF) championship. It included a smart band display, a tableau presented by young girl students of City District Government Karachi School 28, New Karachi which highlighted friendship and brotherhood in the four provinces of Pakistan.

The four-day event featuring 14 teams including Army, Police, Wapda, Navy, Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, NWFP and Islamabad, is being held in collaboration with Pakistan Sports Trust (PST), Sindh Netball Association (SNA) and CDGK. The event concludes on Aug 28. The top six teams will qualify to play in the 31st National Games 2009 at Peshawar.

Tuesday’s fixtures: Sindh v Navy; Police v Islamabad; Wapda v NWFP; Punjab v Balochistan; Sindh v Navy.