KARACHI, Dec 2: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) beat Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) 3-1 to reach the final of the NBP Junior Hockey Cup at the Hockey Club of Pakistan on Tuesday evening.

The first semi-final saw the losing side getting ahead first. KESC scored in the third minute through right-in Irfan A. Khan. But it was to be their one and only goal as KESC after restoring parity through their captain and centre-forward Haseem Khan in the 21st minute, went on to lead in the second half.

The score at the halftime was 1-1.

The 51st and 63rd minutes saw NBP’s Mohammad Atiq utilising a penalty stroke and a penalty corner, respectively, to win the match for his side.

Supervised by umpires Akhlaq Bukhari and Zulfiqar Hussain, the match as all the other matches in the tournament was watched by the entire selection committee comprising chief selector Hasan Sardar and members Farhat Khan, M. Shafiq and Khalid Bashir, with the exception of Raana Mujahid, who is in Los Angeles for the FIH Congress meeting. NBP will now meet the winner of the second semi-final in the final on Friday.

The second semi-final, also to be played under floodlights at the same venue, will see Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) taking on Habib Bank Limited at 6.30pm on Wednesday.