KARACHI, Sept 27: Title holders, Railways and Lahore Colours, propelled into the semifinals of the 21st National women’s hockey championship after winning their last league matches at the Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP) Stadium on Tuesday.

Railways, as expected, topped Pool A after they overwhelmed Lahore Whites 9-0 in their third and last pool match. Earlier, they had beaten Karachi Whites and Lahore Whites.

Joining Railways were Lahore Colours who scored a solitary goal victory over Army to register their second successive win in Pool B. Lahore Colours already had one win to their credit as they had brushed aside Quetta Whites 3-1 in the opener.

Pool B and D consists of three teams each while the other two pools A and C have four teams apiece.

The remaining two teams would be known after the completion of league matches on Wednesday.

The match between Karachi Colours and Sukkur would determine the Pool C champion as both had won two matches each while Wapda is strong contender to earn a place in the last four from Pool D.

The Railways-Lahore Whites match turned out to be a one-sided affair, with seven goals coming in the first half. Zakia Gul slammed home four while Rifat Mehdi netted twice. Farrukh Naz, Sanam Yousuf and Ishrat, one each, completed the tally.

Lahore Colours posted their second victory in a row when they beat Army by a solitary goal after the barren first half. Rana scored the all-important goal off a penalty corner in 37th minute.

Sukkur, bronze medallist of the last edition, also chalked up second successive victory by beating Hyderabad 1-0. Mehwish scored the match winner for Sukkur.

In the fourth match of the day, Faisalabad showed no mercy to Karachi Whites by inflicting 7-0 victory on Karachi Whites. Sumaira Anjum (2), Farah Bashir, Sidra Younus, Asma Rehman, Sadaf Mumtaz and Naheed Akhter one each, were the scorers.

Wednesday’s fixtures: Bahawalpur v Hyderabad at 9.00 am; Larkana v Wapda at 11.00 am; Lahore Whites v Faisalabad at 2.00 pm; Karachi Colours v Sukkur at 4.00 pm.