NBP down SSGC on penalty shoot-out to emerge National Hockey champs

KARACHI: The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) won the National Hockey Championship for the second consecutive time defeating SSGC by 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out of what was an reverberating final of the 65th Air Marshal Nur Khan (late) National Hockey Championship after 1-1 draw in the regular time of the final here at the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium on Monday.

Wapda claimed 3rd position thumping Wapda Whites 7-6 in a nail-biting game. Arsalan Qadir netted two crucial goals as he scored through the penalty corner to equalise as well as in the shoot-out to propel NBP to victory. The final between NBP and SSGC was an evenly matched contest which saw SSGC dominating the first half as they made circle penetrations regularly as their forwards entered the penalty area quite a few times but due to lack of good finishing skills failed to score the goals but still they managed to get penalty corner twice. Mubashir, successfully dragged the ball into the net in the 21st minute making it 1-0 at half time in which both teams missed scoring opportunities.

But NBP came back into the 3rd quarter strongly and got three penalty corners but SSGC’s strong defence line didn’t let them pounce. In the next quarter Arsalan finally flicked the ball through a penalty corner in the 50th minute making it 1-1. Though SSGC got penalty corner in the 56th minute but missed an opportunity.

The decisive moment came when SSGC’s Zeeshan missed the net. NBP kept their nerves and scored on all five attempts to clinch the championship as Arsalan was the star netting the equalising goal and also scored on penalty as NBP romped to their convective title of national hockey championship. The third place match early in the day between the both Wapda sides was a high-scoring thriller. Wapda Whites opened the scoring in the 9th minute of the game through a field goal but WAPDA equalled in the end of the 1st half making it 1-1.There were volley of goals scored in the second quarter as Wapda Whites scored twice but Wapda fought back to qualise. Wapda scored two goals in quick succession to end the half time at 4-2.

Wapda made it 5-2 in the 36th minute but Whites scored two successive goals. However Wapda showed their skills and were winning 7-3. Wapda Whites came back by netting 3 goals on the trot but Wapda still managed to clinch the contest.

The CM Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah was the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony. He lauded the services of Air Marshall (late) Noor Khan in the history of Pakistan sports.