KARACHI: Higher Education Commission and Ashraf Sugar Mills fell to stunning losses against the bottom teams of their respective groups on Sunday and missed their chances of reaching the next round of the National Challenge Cup.

HEC suffered a 1-0 loss to Saif Textile in Lahore with the loss denying them a chance to overhaul second-placed SA Gardens in Group ‘E’ while ASM’s bid to pip Pakistan Railways to second spot in Group ‘C’ came unstuck after a 2-0 reverse to Hussain Textile in Bahawalpur.

Elsewhere in the final round of matches, already-qualified Pakistan Army and Otto Cranes finished with wins but Pakistan Air Force crashed to a defeat.

Qadeer’s hat-trick helped Group ‘F’ runners up Army beat Pakistan Ordnance Factories 3-0 in Wah Cantt while Haider Ali scored four times as Group ‘C’ winners Otto Cranes cruised past Klash Mills 4-1 in Faisalabad.

Group ‘G’ winners PAF, though, couldn’t end on a high as they lost 2-1 to Mamsons Builders.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2023