LAHORE: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Wapda and Railways recorded impressive victories at the PSO 61st National Hockey Championship in Sialkot on Thursday.

Arsalan Qadir’s hat-trick plus two goals each by Mohammad Tousiq and Dilber propelled NBP to a massive 9-0 victory over Islamabad.

Arsalan, who rose to prominence at the recently held Champions Trophy in Bhubaneswar where he scored the decisive goal in the high-voltage semi-final against arch-rivals India, struck in 27th minute converting a short-corner and then scored back-to-back goals (47th and 48th) on field efforts.

Arsalan was ably supported by Tousiq, who found the net in seventh and 21st minute, cashing in on a penalty-stroke and then penalty-corner. Dilber netted goals in the third and 29th minutes. Mohammad Atiq (12th) and Sibtain (28th) chipped in with one goal apiece.

Meanwhile, in another match hat-trick by Mohammad Imran and two goals by Asad Bashir helped Wapda blank Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 7-0.

Imran sounded the board in the sixth, 16th and 36th minutes, all on field attempts. Asad fired goals in the 10th and 30th minutes. Mohammad Khalid (44th) and Tasawar (48th) contributed one goal each as KP failed to defend against relentless Wapda onslaught.

In another game, Railways drafted an impressive 5-1 win against Sindh as Shaharyar (7th), Junaid Manzoor (40th), Adeel Latif (42nd), Qasim Ahmed (49th) and Waseem Akram (59th) scored. Shujaat Ali (eighth) scored the consolation goal for the losers.

Meanwhile, tournament director Anjum Saeed imposed a one-match ban on tournament officer Rana Sajid for reporting on the match late.

Anjum also banned umpire Hafiz Atif Malik for three matches for his wrong decisions/judgments during a match between the HEC and Port Qasim, played on Wednesday.

Friday’s matches:

PIA vs Punjab; Army vs SSGC; NBP vs Customs.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2015