RAWALPINDI: Army and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) recorded huge victories in the Chief of Army Staff Hockey Championship that began at the Army Hockey Stadium here on Thursday.

Army blanked Police 6-0 while PIA outclassed Punjab 6-1.

In an absolutely one-sided affair, Army thrashed Police with the help of brilliant show by Abdul Jabbar and Hammad Dar.

Jabbar opened scoring for Army in the 23rd minute.

Ten minutes later, Army captain Mohammad Imran, who is also skipper of national team, doubled the lead on penalty corner, convincingly putting the ball into the net.

In the 37th and 41st minutes, Hammad struck back-to-back goals.

Later, Jabbar scored his second and the team’s fifth goal while Faraz Dar made it 6-0 in the 59th.

Police tried hard during the last 10 minutes to score a consolation goal but Army’s resolute defence didn’t allow opponents any chance.

Speaking to Dawn after the match, Army captain Mohammad Imran said: “All our players are in good form… in the first match of the tournament we managed to win 6-0, it’s a big achievement. I hope we manage to win the championship.”

Noting that PIA and Wapda were among major contenders of the tournament, Imran said his team had the potential to defeat them.

Meanwhile, PIA in their first match against Punjab, showed exactly why they were among hot favourites of the tournament.

The national airline dominated almost throughout the match.

It took only four minutes for a well-drilled PIA outfit to penetrate the Punjab defences as striker Kashif Ali scored the first goal on penalty corner.

A few minutes later, Punjab equalised through their forward Amir Ali. However, in the 12th minute, Ammad Butt made it 2-1 for PIA.

Later, Mohammad Hammad added a brace while Mohammed Zubair and Azfar Yaqoob registered a goal each to give PIA a huge victory.

Earlier, the tournament opener held between the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Wapda ended in a 1-1 draw.

Wapda, despite having the services of veteran Olympians Sohail Abbas and Shabbir Ahmed, failed to impress.

Sohail, a world-renowned penalty-corner specialist, missed two penalty corners and Shabbir could only make a couple of good moves.

NBP took lead in the 12th minute when Olympians Tousiq Ahmed and Ali Shan launched a combined attack passing the ball to an unmarked Arslan Qadir in the goal-scoring area, who put the ball into the net.

In the very next minute however, Wapda’s Mohammad Imran and Tasawar Abbas made a good move to earn a penalty corner, which was utilised by striker Waqas Sharif.

Both the teams failed to score any more goals till the end of regulation time.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2015

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