LAHORE, Feb 2: Last year finalists, the reigning champion Okara and Toba Tek Singh again cruised into the final of the fourth Punjab Under-16 Inter-District Hockey Championship at the National Hockey Stadium on Sunday.

A fine hat trick by Zeeshan Akram helped Toba Tek Singh rout Lahore 5-0. Okara put all on stake to carve out 6-5 win on penalty strokes against Faisalabad.

Zeeshan was ably supported by Khurram Shahzad who banged home the remaining two goals. Toba Tek Singh had taken 4-0 lead at the interval.

The way Toba Tek Singh played it seemed both sides were somewhat nervous and were not ready for an attacking game.

But the second half was packed with excitement as the game was now at its peak. Okara earned all the five penalty- corners in the second half while Faisalabad slammed in four goals out of their total of five.

On the offensive, Faisalabad who missed two first short corners earlier, drew first blood when Shahbaz fired home a spectacular field goal on a solo effort in the 41st minute.

Okara after conceding the lead launched and enormous onslaught and also got three short-corners in the 44th, 45th, and 57th minutes but scored the equaliser in the 58th minute through Tafsee-ul- Hafeez, who slammed in a field goal.

Locking at a 1-1 draw extra time of 15 minutes was given but it failed to break the ice and the match stretched further to five penalty-strokes to each side.

But both the teams cashed in on four each as Ramzan misfired one for Okara and Qaiser Dildar from Faisalabad.

On sudden death penalty stroke, Ghulam Abbas converted the first for Okara but Fazal Abbas’s shot for Faisalabad could not beat Shuja Hussain who well stopped the ball while diving to his left side.

Monday’s fixtures: Lahore v Faisalabad at 8.30am (for third position). Okara v Toba Tek Singh 15 10.30am (final).