KARACHI, Sept 28: National Games gold medallist, Wapda, and the hosts, Karachi Colours completed the semifinal line-up of the 21st National women’s hockey championship when they rounded off their league matches on winning note at the Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP) Stadium, on Wednesday.
Wapda outplayed Larkana 17-0 to emerge Pool D leaders while Karachi Colours had the better of Sukkur 1-0 to head Pool C.
In the two other matches, Faisalabad carved out a 5-0 victory over Lahore Whites while Bahawalpur and Hyderabad shared points after playing a one-all drawn game.
Defending champions, Railways and Lahore Colours have already qualified for the last four the other day.
Both the semifinals will be played on Thursday. Wapda takes on Lahore Colours in the first at 2.00pm while Karachi Colours is pitted against Railways in the second at 4.00pm.
The Wapda-Larkana match turned out to be a completely one-sided affair and the former scored at repeated interval. They slammed eight goals in the first half and went on to add another nine to their tally in the post interval session.
Full back Aqeela Naseem hammered home five goals, three off penalty corners, while captain Azra Nasir followed up with four goals. Aysha Arif and Sonia Khan shared four goals amongst themselves whereas Neelma Hussain, Saba Saeed, Aneela Khan and Benish Hayat netted one goal apiece for the winners.
Hosts Karachi Colours struggled to overcome fighting Sukkur by a solitary goal which came through the efforts of Mehreen in the 31st minute.
Before the match, both the teams were tied with two wins each in Pool C.
Hyderabad struck in the dying moments to hold Bahawalpur to a 1-1 draw. Shazia Perveen opened the account for Bahawalpur in the 3rd minute while Farheen restored parity for Hyderabad three minutes before final whistle.
In yet another match, Faisalabad brushed aside Lahore Whites 5-2 after leading 5-2 at half time. Sumaira Anjum, Sidra Younes, Sadaf Mumtaz, Sakeena Bibi and Mehwish Muneer netted one goal each for the winners.
Thursday’s fixtures: Wapda v Lahore Colours at 2.00pm; Karachi Colours v Railways at 4.00pm.