ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army on Sunday retained the National Netball Championship title defeating Pakistan Air Force 31-29 in a neck-and-neck final here at the Hamidi Hall of the Pakistan Sports Complex.

Both teams displayed quality game and until the last minute no one could predict about the result of the final battle with the PAF defeating the soldiers 7-6 in a closely contested first quarter.

The second quarter which ended in a 12-12 drawn saw both teams availing power-play with shooters and attackers of both sides hardly missing any chance of scoring goals.

Making a comeback in the third quarter, Army scored eight goals against six by the PAF while the nerve-wracking deciding quarter saw soldiers manage add five more goals against their opponents who scored four goals.

Army’s goal shooter Zahid Iqbal and goal attacker Abdul Khaliq scored 18 and 13 goals, respectively. On the other side, PAF’s goal shooter gave befitting response to his opponents by scoring 23 goals but to no avail.

Meanwhile, third position match was played between Sindh and Wapda which the later won by 29-27.

Also, a two-quarter exhibition match was played between Pakistan Army women’s and diplomats women’s teams which was won by Army 7-4. Diplomats’ team comprised officials of the UK, Canada and Australia.

Retired Lt-Gen Asif Yaseen Malik who was the chief guest on the occasion distributed trophies, medals and certificates among the players.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2015

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