Resilient NBP retain junior hockey trophy

KARACHI: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) defended their title when they convincingly beat WAPDA 3-1 in the final of the Under-20 National championship at the Hockey Club of Pakistan here on Friday.
It was the sixth title win for the bankers. They dictated their terms from the beginning. Their forwards demonstrated their skill in dribbling, dodging and ball possession and made a good number of moves which rewarded them. Taimoor, Mohammed Naveed and Aamir Ali made a fine move in the 5th minute and Naveed struck the first blow through a beautiful field goal.
In the 27th minute Azfar Yaqoob dribbled beautifully, reached the D to earn a penalty corner and scored the goal on rebound.
Mubashir Ali struck the third on a penalty corner which was the reward of another brilliant move from Faizan Ali, Naveed and Azfar in the 47th minute.
WAPDA fought hard in the second quarter and leveled the score through Bilal Mehmood.
They missed a couple of chances. In the third quarter when they were trailing by one goal, Sohail Anjum missed a simple chance.
They got four penalty corners but wasted all owing to poor stoppage on the D.
Third position match between SSGC and Punjab-A was decided in the penalty shootout stage after ending at 3-3 draw in the stipulated time.
SSGC captain Zeeshan Bukhari scored a field goal in the 6th minute and Mohammed Rizwan struck twice — a field goal in the 27th minute and on a penalty corner hit rebound in the 36th . From Punjab Mohsin Sabir (29th min), Umar Mubashir (37th min) and Jalil Ahmed (58th min) scored one goal each. In the penalty shootout stage, Punjab scored one while SSGC scored two goals.
Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Akhtar Rasool gave away the trophy to the winning captain Atiq Arshad. Rana Mujahid announced Rs100,000 for NBP.