Wapda 3 PTCL 2

NBP 4 Army 3

HBL 5 Customs 1

KARACHI, Feb 3: Defending champions PIA and formidable Wapda broke sweat before edging past their rivals 3-2 after thrillers to reach the semifinals in the 50th national hockey championship on Monday.

PIA had to use every ounce of their energy to subdue a fighting Allied Bank (ABL) in a pulsating game, while Wapda recovered in the second half to overcome a youthful PTCL thanks to a winner from two-goal Sohail Abbas.

National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) were provided a good workout by Pakistan Army before registering a close 4-3 triumph in the third quarterfinal despite a hat trick by Army’s Mohammad Imran.

Habib Bank (HBL) completed the semifinal line-up when they overpowered Customs 5-1 in the last quarterfinal.

The national carrier got off to a flying start by taking the lead through Ali Raza who converted a 6th-minute penalty corner with a forceful hit.

PIA were shocked as the game tilted in ABL’s favour barely three minutes later when Zahid Afzal’s opportunist strike from the left side gave PIA goalkeeper Ahmad Alam no chance.

Atif Bashir almost regained the lead after a Kamran Ashraf pass in the 30th minute but his rising hit was well saved by ABL goalkeeper Ashfaq Ahmad.

Ten minutes into second half, ABL lost Mohammad Fayyaz and PIA Inam-ur-Rahman after yellow cards.

But another shock was in store for PIA after resumption who went 2-1 down with ABL’s Mohammad Sarwar converting a penalty stroke in the 47th minute.

PIA fought back after the break as they conjured up the equaliser through former captain Shahbaz Ahmad off a penalty corner in the 56th minute.

PIA’s Shafqat Malik and ABL’s Mohammad Saqlain did not set an example for their juniors as both received yellow cards in the 63rd minute.

Shafqat was yellow carded after he deliberately hit Saqlain on the face with the hockey stick followed a rough tackle, while Saqlain received marching orders after dissent and for misbehaving with umpire.

Extra time loomed, but Shahbaz once again rescued his side as he successfully set up Kamran who scored the match-winner with just few seconds left in the final whistle.

Khalid Mahmood of ABL was named the player of the match.

PTCL were the first to take the lead through Shakeel Abbasi off a 9th-minute penalty corne. They lost Akhtar Ali who collected a yellow in the 14th minute while Sohail was on target with a blistering drag flick in the same minute to level the scores.

Wapda trailed again as Aqeel Hussain, the player of the match, put his side 2-1 ahead with a 49th-minute short corner.

Wapda showed their class with two goals within five minutes as they put the game on an even keel with a Mudassir Ali Khan goal in the 51st minute and then Sohail scooped-up the winner in the 55th minute off a short corner.

The soldiers posed a serious challenge in the second half after the bankers took 2-0 lead in the first session. The lanky NBP full-back Imran Warsi opened the scoring converting a penalty corner in the 8th minute.

Adnan Zakir found the cage a minute before the break, while Zeeshan Ashraf made it 3-0 in the 45th minute.

Mohammad Imran, who got a unique double, scoring his second hat trick of the tournament and bagging the player of the tournament award for the third time, slotted home his first in the 52nd minute off a short corner.

Tahir Zaman completed the tally for the bankers with an angular hit from the left in the 55th minute. Army’s Mohammad Imran banged home penalty corners in the 61st and 63rd minutes to threatened NBP’s grip on the game but in the end it proved in vain.

The bankers received first jolt as Mohammad Ali converted a penalty stroke in the 18th minute to put Customs ahead.

Mohammad Ali again was on target when he connected a Waseem Feroze pass in the 22nd minute, but Customs were surprised when umpire Rashid Butt disallowed the goal.

The bankers thought that they had equalised through Kashif Jawwad who connected a Haider Hussain cross to score but it was disallowed by the umpire Mohammad Asif despite appeals from the HBL players.

HBL finally equalised with Rizwan Khan slamming home off a penalty corner in the 29th minute, while player of the match Kashif poached his first with a spectacular reverse hit followed a Rizwan pass in the 33rd minute.

Kashif, who was in excellent form, got his double after some hard work by Mohammad Khalid in the 48th minute. Ejaz Rasool netted his first in the 49th minute and then a move involving Haider and Rizwan ended on a clinical finish by Ejaz in the 57th minute for his second and the bankers’ fifth goal.

Tuesday’s fixtures:

Semifinals:

NBP v HBL at 12.00pm; PIA v Wapda at 2.00pm.