National Hockey Championship: KP crush Gilgit, PIA beat PAF

KARACHI: KP crushed Gilgit 11-0 on the first day of Air Marshall Nur Khan National Hockey Championship at Abdul Sattar Edhi hockey stadium here on Tuesday.

Gilgit had no response to KP’s experience and the winning team’s forwards punctured the defence line of Gilgit time and again. KP scored nine field goals and two on penalty corners. Forwards Ismail and Amir netted two goals each.

PQA defeated Balochistan 6-0. PQA scored five field goals and one on penalty corner. Forward Abdul Rehman scored two goals.

PIA defeated PAF 3-1. Both teams played attacking game, but failed to score a goal. PIA missed a few golden chances when their forwards’ hits went outside the goal post. No team had scored a goal by the half time.

PIA, the most experienced in domestic hockey and record title winners of national championship, took the lead when Ihsanullah dragged the ball to the goal post on a penalty corner. PIA doubled the lead when their forward Anees struck the board. PIA scored their third goal when Ihsan scored his second, again on a PC.

After conceding three goals, PAF came out of their defensive style and forward Shahbaz scored a goal in the last moments.

Punjab crushed FATA 7-0, scoring six field goals and one on penalty stroke. M Arsalan and Ashfaq Ahmed netted two goals each.

Sindh defeated Islamabad 5-0. The first half proved goalless as both teams tried to take the lead but due to good marking their forwards failed to take the lead. But later on Sindh increased pressure and attacked the “D” area of Islamabad time and again, creating gaps. Their forwards scored four field goals. One was scored on penalty corner.