ISLAMABAD, March 22: Lahore Whites and Islamabad scored victories on Wednesday in the National Hockey Championship preliminaries to qualify for the main round. Whites thumped Kohat 8-0 and Islamabad defeated Rawalpindi 4-2 in Pool D matches at the Naseer Bunda Stadium as the home team took the top spot in the group.

Bannu who beat Azad Kashmir 4-3 also advanced as eight sides earned their tickets for the final round among them Gujranwala, Peshawar, Sargodha, Faisalabad and Lahore Colours who had qualified on Tuesday.

Sarfraz netted four times in Lahore Whites victory against a hapless Kohat with Arshad Ali, Asghar Ali, Waqas Umar and Waqas Ahmed scoring a goal each.

For Islamabad Hafeez got a brace of goals and Arshad and Zakirullah added one apiece while Rawalpindi replied through a double strike by Nawaz.

Bannu got a goal each through Rafiullah and Ehsanullah while Hafeez struck twice.

The Azad Kashmir response came from Farooq Arshad who put in two goals and Mohammad Masood chipped in with one.

In another match, Sargodha and Faisalabad drew 3-3. Saleem Aamir (2) and Aamir Shahzad took the scoring honours for Sargodha while Zeeshan Taufiq (2) and Masood Kamal netted for the opposing side.