KARACHI: Never-say-die Pakistan Television (PTV) slammed a last-minute equaliser to hold formidable Customs to a 1-1 draw in their pool ‘B’ match of the 62nd National Hockey Championship at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium here on Wednesday.

In other matches of the day, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa defeated Punjab by odd goal in three (2-1), PAF brushed aside Police by tennis score of 6-1 while PIA overwhelmed Sindh 7-0.

Having lost an earlier match to the Steel Mills, Customs, once considered a force to be reckoned with, seems to be in hot waters for making it to the quarter-finals. Having won only one match against Islamabad in three outings so far, Customs now face a strong Wapda outfit in the last league encounter on Sunday.

Fresh after registering a solitary goal victory over Islamabad on Monday, PTV fought courageously by keeping the Customs at bay in the first two quarters.

Customs forced their first penalty corner in the 34th minute and captain Asim Khan made no mistake. They forced another penalty corner in the 43rd but to no avail.

The PTV, on the other hand, continued their onslaughts for equaliser and finally succeeded by earning a penalty corner in the dying moments which yielded fruitful results. Mohammad Adnan after receiving a goalmouth pass efficiently connected it.

Earlier, the PTV earned three penalty corners but all went wasted.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa struck a goal each in the second and third quarters to post their maiden win over Punjab in their pool ‘C’ match of academic interest.

Mohib opened the account for the KP in the 20th minute while Amjad-ur-Rehman consolidated it in 41st. Punjab reduced the deficit through Ehtisham who scored off penalty corner in the 57th.

Both KP and Punjab have completed their engagements.

A hat-trick by Mushtaq helped PAF chalk up a crushing victory over Police to continue their winning run and stay in contention for a place in last eight.

Mushtaq struck thrice in the 11th, 20th and 35th minutes, all off penalty corners, to hog limelight. Saeed Shah, Samiullah, and Asif Manzoor netted once for the PAF while Mohammad Ammad scored the consolation goal for policemen off penalty corner.

PIA outplayed Sindh in the pool ‘A’ match to earn full points.

Shafqat Rasool (2), Mohammad Zubair, Rana Sohail, Ihsanullah, Waseem Akram and Mohammad Irfan one apiece, shared the scoring honours for the airlines.

Thursday’s fixtures:

Wapda v Steel Mills at 11:30am; Railways v HEC at 1:30pm; Police v Navy at 3:30pm.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2015