KARACHI, Oct 2: Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) and Pakistan Navy cruised into the semifinals after thrilling victories in the President PFF Cup football tournament in Quetta on Thursday.

National champions Wapda crashed out of the tournament after a 3-4 penalty shootout defeat against Navy in the quarterfinal which remained goalless in the stipulated 90 minutes and overtime.

Wapda and Navy mostly played in the midfield besides few inroads made by former through Arif Mahmood, Niaz Ali and Khuda Bukhsh who failed to beat Navy goalkeeper Ishaq Ahmad.

The sailors too invaded Wapda’s half through strikers Basharat, Rana Zahir and Saleem Jr but found Wapda custodian Majid Khan vigilant under the crossbar.

The game was extended to penalty kicks session as both sides failed to break the deadlock even in extra time.

Basharat, Saleem Sr, Saleem Jr, and Rana Zahir converted the penalties, while Mohammad Ramzan missed from Navy. From Wapda, Raza Syed, Khuda Bukhsh and Jamshaid scored, while Niaz Ali and Ghulam Mustafa wasted the opportunity.

KRL completed the semifinal lineup after squeezing past Army thanks to a second half winner from Allah Nawaz.

Army, who won the Inter-services championship last June at Abbottabad, were unimpressive and in the first session as their forwards Mohammad Zahid, Mohammad Sajjad and Imran Hussain could not give their moves finishing touches.

KRL’s Sarfaraz Rasool, Atiqur Rahman and Qadeer threatened soldiers as they kept on testing Army goalkeeper Jaffar Khan.

Midfielder Allah Nawaz tricked his way past three Army defenders before firing the ball home past Jaffar in the 70th minute.

Friday’s fixtures: Semifinal: Karachi Port Trust v Navy at 2.15pm.