RAWALPINDI: Wapda, regarded among the top contenders of Chief of Army Staff Challenge Hockey Cup title, are out of the semi-finals race after failing to win in three consecutive matches.

Despite having renowned veterans like Sohail Abbas, Tasawar Abbas, Khalid Bhatti and Waqas Sharif in their ranks, Wapda could only draw their crucial match against Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) 2-2 at the Army Hockey Stadium here on Monday.

In other two matches held on Monday, Army Seniors overcame PAF 3-1 while Police played a 2-2 draw against Punjab.

However, the shocking ouster of Wapda — runners-up at the last National Hockey Championship and considered as favourites after PIA — was the day’s real news.

SSGC managed to earn a penalty corner in the seventh minute, which was converted by seasoned Shakeel Abbasi on rebound. In the third quarter, Yasir Shabbir doubled the lead.

Wapda then bounced back as striker Mohammad Imran scored to reduce the deficit to 2-1 in the 38th minute.

Looking under a bit of pressure, SSGC then opted to play aggressive game. This shift in their stance handed Wapda another chance to equalise with Waqas’s beautiful field goal in the 43rd minute.

However, the 2-2 scoreline remained intact till the very end, as high-profile Wapda exited even before the semi-finals.

Earlier in the tournament, Wapda could not succeed in recording a win in the pool stage as they drew against NBP (1-1) and Navy (3-3).

In the day’s opening match, a hat-trick by captain Mohammad Imran guided Army Seniors to a convincing win against PAF.

PAF demonstrated attacking hockey in the first few minutes and the approach paid off, as Mohammad Mudassar struck an impressive goal on penalty corner in the 10th minute.

However, PAF could not maintain the same tempo against the well-composed Army Seniors who then made an aggressive comeback to dominate the proceedings throughout the game.

In the 14th minute, Army earned a penalty corner, converted by Imran to make it 1-1. Imran then gave his team a 2-1 lead on penalty corner in the 23rd.

In the 45th, an aggressive move by Muazammil-ul-Haq and Abdul Jabbar gave Army Seniors their third penalty corner on which their captain completed a fine hat-trick.

The match between Police and Punjab ended in a draw.

Punjab just avoided defeat in the end, as striker Amir Ali in the 57th minute struck a crucial goal on penalty corner enabling his team to snatch a 2-2 draw.

In the eighth minute, Mohammad Adnan gave Punjab lead. Seven minutes later, Police forward Mohammad Ayub equalised.

In the last quarter, Hassan Obaid’s strike put Police ahead 2-1 before Amir’s late goal ended the match in stalemate.

After the first five days, PIA and Army are leading in pool ‘A’ as both teams have played three matches won all, thus emerging as strong contenders for the semi-finals.

In pool ‘B’, SSGC are leading followed by NBP and Navy.

The true picture will be clearer after today’s match between NBP and SSGC.

Published in Dawn January 27th, 2015

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