Sargodha reach Nishan-i-Haider semis

KARACHI: Sahiwal and Sargodha won their last round matches in the Riaz Mehar Round of the Nishan-i-Haider Hockey Tournament at the Motiullah Stadium, Bhawalpur, on Monday.

Sargodha defeated Lahore 6-2 to join Flying Horse and Multan in the semi-finals. The fourth semi-finalists will be decided after the match between Faisalabad and Gujranwala on Tuesday (today).

In another match, Sahiwal beat Gujranwala 4-1.

Though Lahore forwards struck the first blow in the 10th minute through Abid Hussain, they relaxed afterwards. Sargodha bounced back and leveled the score in the 11th minute through Fayyaz, who also netted a field goal in the 14th minute. Sharjeel Sajji struck two goals in 34th and 50th minutes.

Gujranwala played well in the first half and launched some fine moves against Sahiwal but they failed to finish because of poor ball possession.

Sahiwal unsettled them by scoring the first goal on a penalty corner in the 2nd minute through Junaid Hussain.

Mohammed Arsalan, Ali Raza and Faisal Nazir made a move in the 15th minute and Faisal made no mistake in the circle to level the score.

Sahiwal struck three more field goals through Abdul Rehman (28th min), Musharaf (44th min) and Mohammed Faisal (60th min).