PIA to face WAPDA in National Hockey final

Karachi: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and WAPDA will lock horns in the final of the National Hockey Championship on Sunday (today).
In the semi-finals, PIA defeated National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) 7-6 on penalty shootouts, while WAPDA outclassed Army 3-1 on Saturday.
The match between PIA and NBP — two of country’s top teams — proved a thrilling encounter and ended in the sudden death stage.
Despite creating several chances, neither of the teams could score in the first two quarters.
But in the third quarter, NBP exerted pressure through a series of moves as Akhtar Ali and Ali Shan strolled into the circle and won a penalty corner which was successfully converted by Akhtar Ali in the 34th minute. Shan Irshad then extended NBP’s lead in the 42nd minute with a beautiful goal.
PIA bounced back in the 44th minute when Ammad Butt scored through a field effort to reduce their deficit.
In the next minute, PIA forwards Shafqat Rasool and Mohammad Zubair pierced deep into the circle and won a penalty corner for their team. Amir Shehzad made no mistake and leveled the scores.
Meanwhile, WAPDA hammered Army 3-1.
Army took the lead in the 5th minute with Rizwan Sr scoring a lovely goal but they failed to maintain their lead when WAPDA’s Mohammad Aleem equalised in the 15th minute on a penalty corner.
WAPDA scored two more goals in a span of three minutes of the last quarter through Umar Bhutta and Mohammad Ijaz to seal their victory.