SSGC, PIA, Army, NBP move into last eight

KARACHI: SSGC, PIA, Army and NBP moved into the quarter-finals of the 65th Air Marshal Nur Khan National Hockey Championship underway here at the Abdul Sattar Edhi stadium on Tuesday.

In the first match of the day, WAPDA crushed Army (Whites) 6-0. WAPDA took control of the game early when forward Aleem Usman scored in the first quarter. They kept their clueless rivals under pressure as Mohammad Imran and Usman scored two goals each, while Aleem Bilal and Tasawar Abbas netted once.

In the second game, WAPDA (Whites) thumped Railway 5-1. WAPDA (Whites) forwards exploited weaknesses in the defence of Railway as Zahidullah and Suleman scored two goals each.

Zaheer Hussain and Owaisur Rehman of Railway played well but failed to find the net for their team. Meanwhile, SSGC overcame PIA 3-2 in a thrilling encounter.

PIA, who hold the record for most number of national championship titles, were kept under pressure despite managing to score two goals.

Hamza Waheed, Rana Sohail and Mubashir Ali scored for SSGC. Both the teams have qualified for last eight. After their win, SSGC is placed at first position in Group C, followed by PIA at second spot.

Army held NBP to a nail-biting 1-1 draw. Both the teams failed to score up till the fourth quarter. The defenders of both the sides displayed superb skills in thwarting their opponents’ attempts.

NBP’s Arslan Qadir finally managed to score via penalty corner in the last quarter to put his team in lead. However, Army equalised through Arsalan Iqbal’s brilliant field goal. Both Army and NBP have 10 points, however the former sit at first position in Group A due to better goal average. The first quarter-final will be held on August 1.