PIA, Army in national hockey semis

KARACHI: PIA and Army won their quarter-final matches against SSGC and Punjab, respectively, in National Hockey championship at the Sialkot Hockey Stadium in Sialkot on Thursday.
In the third quarter-final, PIA beat SSGC 3-1 in penalty shootout after drawing 1-1 in regulation time.
SSGC took lead in the 15th minute through Abbas Haider, who successfully converted a penalty corner, but they became defensive which proved a wrong strategy in the end.
PIA forwards took full
advantage of the game plan
of their opponents, created gaps and launched frequent attacks.
SSGC maintained their lead thanks to excellent goalkeeping by Olympian Salman Akbar.
The Airliners got five penalty corners but failed to convert any. Salman stopped as many as four hits in the goal post.
In the 56th minute PIA forwards launched a ferocious attack through Shafqat Rasool and Muhammad Zubair and earned a penalty corner for their team and Zubair made no mistake and leveled the score.
In the penalty shootout, PIA scored two goals, while the SSGC failed to strike any.
Army had to make strenuous efforts to beat stubborn Punjab in the last quarter-final. They exerted pressure on their opponents, converting a penalty corner in the 12th minute through their captain Mohammed Imran.
But they went through a troublesome phase to defend their fort which was frequently attacked by the Punjab forwards. Punjab wasted a fair chance in the third quarter.
However, in the last quarter, Punjab’s Faizan leveled the score through successful conversion of a penalty stroke in the 51st minute. But six minutes later Army scored their second goal through Kashif Ali to pull 2-1 triumph.
A tough competition is expected in the first semi-final between PIA and NBP as both sides have some Olympians.
The other semi-final will be played between WAPDA and Army. Both semi-finals will be played on Saturday (tomorrow).