ISLAMABAD: Defending champions Sindh, Pakistan Army, Punjab and Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Sunday made it to the semi-finals of the 14th National Women’s Netball Championship here at the Pakistan Sports Complex.

With Sindh facing HEC and Army meeting Punjab in semi-finals on Monday, the event being jointly organised by Pakistan Netball Federation (PNF) and Punjab Netball Association in collaboration with Pakistan Sports Board saw ten teams competing against each other.

Wapda and Pakistan Army clashed in a thriller with unheralded team of the power utility giving tough time to the soldiers who being hot favourites of the tournament finally overcame their tough rivals.

Pakistan Army was having hard time in the third quarter before finishing the first one at 7-7. However, the experienced Pakistan Army managed to register convincing victory 23-13 in the fourth quarter.

The first match was scheduled to be played between AJK and Sindh who along with Pakistan Army remained unbeaten throughout the tournament. However, AJK players didn’t turn up at the scheduled time due to which Sindh was given a walkover.

Girls from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa outclassed Fata 5-2 in a low-scoring match while another one-sided match saw HEC beat Wapda 21`-14.

Also, Sindh gave thrashing to Punjab 17-11 in the last match of the day, though Punjab had taken a good start by scoring early goals.

Moreover, the Pakistan Netball Federation (PNF) barred Balochistan from playing matches for having four Rawalpindi-based players in their ranks. “Yes, we have disqualified Balochistan as they have at least four players from Rawalpindi in their side,” said a senior PNF official.

Australian High Commissioner was the chief guest on the occasion.

Also, on Saturday, Sindh and Punjab played two matches each with the former outclassing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 45-1 and thrashing 10-1 AJK, while Punjab defeated Fata as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2015

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