LAHORE, April 5: Holders PIA and Allied Bank (ABL) defeated their rivals to meet in the final of the 49th National Hockey Championship at the National Hockey Stadium Friday.
The star-studded PIA, who had beaten Habib Bank in the previous championship’s final, once again emerged winners against the bankers 4-2.
ABL however had to work hard to edge past National Bank (NBP) 2-1 as both the sides remained goalless in the first half of the second semifinal.
PIA face ABL in final Saturday at 4.00pm.
The national carrier, having stars in Shahbaz Ahmad, Kamran Ashraf, Ahmad Alam and Rahim Khan, received a severe blow as HBL drew first blood when the game was just three minutes old.
Asad Qureshi converted the first penalty corner to give HBL 1-0 lead. The short corner proved to be the last one for the bankers.
Unimpressed, PIA launched massive attacks that soon bore fruit. Kamran, leading the national airlines, levelled six minutes later.
The bankers crumbled as PIA mounted further pressure and scored a goal 60 seconds later. This time Olympian Qamar Ibraheem came into action to put PIA 2-1 ahead.
Both the teams continued to press hard for a goal and played some fast flowing hockey. After the Qamar goal, HBL gave PIA a matching response and equalised through Sohail Abbas. The Pakistan full-back successfully converted the penalty stroke in the dying seconds of the first half.
The second half was however dominated by the champions. They pumped in two goals within 11 minutes to take a convincing 4-2 lead.
Olympian Shafqat Malik converted PIA’s fourth short corner in the 48th minute, while Mohammad Aqeel struck a field goal in the 59th minute to help his side earn a final berth.
ABL, who maintained their domination in both halves, should have won with a bigger margin had they not squandered several chances.
ABL grabbed the lead via Naveed Alam who converted an 18th-minute stroke.
NBP replied with an equaliser that came from Asim Khan who slammed home an accurate pass from Mohammad Nadeem.
NBP captain, Tahir Zaman, who has recently been appointed Pakistan coach, could not get rid of his marker and hardly touched the ball during the 70 minutes.
Pakistan midfielder Mohammad Saqlain released a perfect pass for Babar Abdullah who slotted the second in the 25th minute.
The Player-of-the-tournament will be awarded a cash prize of Rs75,000, the Player-of-the-final Rs50,000.
The Players-of-the-semifinals and third place playoff between NBP and HBL, will receive Rs25,000.
