ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Whites and Islamabad registered huge wins against Balochistan outfits in the National U-18 Hockey Championship here at the Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium on Friday.

Samiullah’s hat-trick backed by brace each from Hamza Khan and Athisham enabled KP Whites to teach a 11-1 hockey lesson to Balochistan Whites.

While KP strikers completely dominated throughout the match, Balochistan netted their only goal through Mohammad Yousuf.

Earlier, Islamabad blanked Balochistan Colour 5-0 with Esa Khan scoring two goals while Usman Janjua, Hamid Ali and Haq Nawaz one each.

Meanwhile, KP Colour after a close contest overcame Punjab Greens 3-2. Both the teams exhibited quality game witnessed by PHF secretary Shahbaz Ahmed Senior.

Goals from Khairullah, Amjad Khan and Mohammad Afraz helped KP Colour to victory. Punjab Greens’ goals were netted by forward Usman Bashir.

Meanwhile, Shahbaz said the ongoing championship carried great importance for Pakistan.

“To us, this U-18 championship matters a lot. After this event we will be initiating the process of selecting the national team for the Junior World Cup to be held in India this December,” he said, while insisting that some of these youngsters have the potential to become very good players.

“After Eid-ul-Azha, we will set up a training camp in Islamabad in which over 50 players, producing impressive performance in this championship, will be called.

“Later, we will conduct trials for selecting the team for the Junior World Cup,” added the PTF secretary.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2016