33rd National Games: Wapda to lock horns with Army in hockey final

ISLAMABAD: Wapda survived a late charge from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to earn a place in men’s hockey final at the 33rd National Games following action-packed semi-final at the Lala Ayub Stadium in Peshawar Friday.

Wapda ultimately edged out KP 2-1 but not before they were given some torrid time on the field. The last ten minutes saw star-studded Wapda battling to keep their slender lead intact. Once KP reduced the margin through Roman, who netted exciting field goal in 52nd minute, the hosts were seen totally dominating and earning three penalty corners in the process. However, Wapda’s defence kept them in the game, thwarting all the goal-scoring attempts, ultimately winning a place in the final.

Earlier, Samiullah (17th) and Ali Aziz (21st minute) put Wapda 2-0 up within first two quarters. Wapda will now take on Army in the final.

Army got the better of Punjab 4-2 in the second semi-final. For Army, Safeer netted a brace with goal each coming from Irfan and Muzammil. Afsar Yaqoob and Junaid scored for Punjab.

Wapda also thrashed Army 8-1 in women’s hockey to grab gold. Railway took the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, in men’s squash Farhan Mehboob (Wapda) retained his supremacy beating Saddamul Haq in straight games 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 to win gold. Tayyab Aslam and Asem Khan, both from Punjab, had to content with bronze.

In women’s squash final, Madina Zafar (Army) got the better of Sammar Anjum 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 for gold medal. Faiza Zafar (Army) and Noorul Huda (Sindh) took bronze.

Moreover, Wapda and Army play 1-1 draw in women’s football with Wapda being declared winner and recipient of gold on a better goal average in round robin league system.

Men’s baseball gold was also won by Wapda after beating Army while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa got bronze.

Wapda women also netted basketball gold leaving Army behind for silver. Army clinched women’s volleyball gold beating Wapda 3-0 in the final. Wapda also edged Army 30-27 in women’s handball final to pocket gold. In men’s handball, Wapda edged Army 28-27 to win gold.

Meanwhile, Murad Ali (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Awais Zahid (Wapda) rea­ched men’s badminton final. Mahoor Shahzad and Sehra Akram both from Wapda will meet in the women’s final.

Anjum Bashir and Raja Muhammad Zulqarnain Hadier (Punjab) will take on Irfan Saeedand Azeem Sarwar (Wapda) in the men’s doubles final.

Women’s doubles final will be all-Wapda affair as Mahoor Shahzad and Bushra Qayyum will take on Sehra Akram and Huma Javeed. The participants of mixed doubles final will be Muhammad Ali Larosh and Ghazala Siddique and Azeem Sarwar along with Saima Waqas. Yet again it will be an all-Wapda affair in the final. Irfan Saeed (Wapda) took bronze in men’s singles while Zubaira Islam (Army) clinched women singles bronze.

Atique Chaudhry and Awais Zahid (Wapda) secured bronze in the men’s doubles event, Zubaira Islam and Warda Gohar (Army) grabbed women’s doubles bronze. In the mixed doubles, Raja Zulqarnain Haider and Amal Muneeb (Punjab) took bronze.

Meanwhile, in taekwondo event, Army are leading with 15 gold, six silver and four bronze medals. Wapda bagged second spot with nine gold, eight silver and four bronze while PAF stood third with one gold, four silver and 12 bronze.

Wapda golf team comprising Ghazanfar Mehmood, Ashiq Hussain, Salman Jehangir, Khalid Mehmood has maintained lead in the team event with an aggregate score of 660, managing two stroke lead over PAF. Punjab team is one stroke adrift for third spot.

Wapda has closed down the gap with Army on the medals table. Till the filing of this report, Army had bagged 131 gold, 116 silver and 83 bronze. Wapda were at their heels with 119 gold, 77 silver and 59 bronze.

Navy have won the sailing event of 33rd National Games clinching eight gold, and 1 silver. Pakistan Air Force were runners-up in the process with one gold, three silver and four bronze.