PESHAWAR, July 30: Shinning Stars and National Stars moved into the next round of the 14th Swat Inter-club hockey championship after securing victories at Swat Sports Complex on Saturday. Shinning Stars struggled to beat Nawakhali XI 4-3 in a thrilling match, while National Stars easily overcame Young XI Nawakhali 5-2 in a one-sided affair.

Shinning Stars grabbed an early lead in the 7th minute through Aminul Haq on a field attempt, but it proved short-lived when Qaider Khan levelled it off a penalty corner conversion. Shinning Stars’ Suleman slammed a goal to make it 2-1 in the 15th minute. Alamzaib followed it up with another on a field attempt in the 29th minute when he connected a fine pass from Suleman in front of goal-mouth to push the score to 3-1. Shinning Stars led 3-1 till half-time.

In the second-half, Nawakhali’s Fawad Khan sounded the board on a well-taken penalty corner in the 51st minute while Qaiser made it 3-3 off a field goal. In a see-saw match, which saw fortunes changing hands many times, Shinning Stars emerged 4-3 victors through Sajjad Khan’s decisive goal.

In the other match, National Stars drubbed Young XI Nawakhali 5-2. Young XI played well in the first-half scoring two quick goals through Wajid and Niamat Khan on field attempts. But National Stars’ centre-forward Muhammad Saddique rendered their attempts useless when he slammed four individual goals including a hat trick on field attempts to give his team 4-2 lead. Iqbal Ali Khan slammed the fifth in the second session to seal the match 5-2.—APP