Police, Army stroll ahead in Junior Hockey Championship

KARACHI: Police, Army, Railways and Customs won their respective matches in the ongoing 35th National Junior Hockey Championship at the National Hockey Stadium here on Saturday.

In the first match, Police displayed excellent skills when they outclassed Pakistan Education Board 3-0. Asad opened the account for Police in the 6th minute. Tariq’s field goal in the 28th minute then doubled the lead followed by a penalty corner conversion by captain Shajeeh Ahmed in the 49th minute.

Pakistan Education Board failed to take advantage when awarded a penalty corner in the 13th minute. Azfar and Shabbir Ahmed supervised the match.

Army hammered Sindh 5-0 in the second match of the day. Afzal scored on a penalty corner in the 10th minute which was followed by a goal on penalty corner rebound by Umar in the 28th minute. Noman then struck a field goal in the 32nd minute to put Sindh further behind. Afzal scored his second in the 40th minute through a penalty stroke with Umar also netting his second with a beautiful field goal in the 46th minute.

Sindh appeared to be a disjointed side as they failed to build any pressure on their opponents and missed two chances to reduce Army’s lead. In the 38th minute, Wahab and Anas made a move and entered Army’s defenses but could not finish. It was followed by another unsuccessful attempt in the 49th minute when Wahab and Touqeer launched an attack.

They also failed to convert any of their three penalty corners. Zahid Hameed and Faisal Sayyam were the umpires.

Railways humbled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (c) 7-0. Saram Bin Qamar triggered the rout with a penalty corner conversion in the 9th minute. Forward Mohsin Ali’s two field goals in the 15th and 30th minute further consolidated Railways’ position. Mohammad Usman netted in the 41st minute followed by Usman Ghani’s penalty corner conversion in the 47th minute. Zaheer Hussain and Awais-ur-Rehman then scored one each in the 52nd and 60th minute, respectively. Sohail Janjua and Haroon Rasheed supervised the match.

After an early goal, Customs faced tough resistance from POF in the fourth match of the day. Asif struck the first blow in the 3rd minute for Customs on a penalty stroke. POF made a number of attempts and even won five penalty corners but lady luck did not favour them. Abid scored the second goal for Customs in the 38th minute. Ameer Hamza and Irfan Ali were the umpires.

Today’s matches: Sindh vs Islamabad, Pakistan Education Board vs Punjab (w), Railways vs Balochistan and POF vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (w).