Navy shock NBP in National Hockey

RAWALPINDI: Navy surprised National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in their 66th National Hockey Championship match at the MPCL Ground Monday.

Navy managed a 2-1 win against the defending champions, who are coached by Tahir Zaman. Though the defeat will not diminish NBP chances of making it to the semi-finals, their pride has definitely been dented with a shocking defeat.

In the day’s other match, SSGC and Wapda played a 1-1 draw with Aleem Bilal scoring for Wapda and Mubassir Ali for SSGC. Both teams have already made it to the semi-finals. Hanan Shahid’s 54th-minute goal gave Punjab a 4-3 win over a luckless Police team that now is almost certain to end up playing for a wooden spoon.

Hanan struck through field efforts to turn the match in Punjab’s favour following an exciting tussle that saw both teams locked 3-3 going into the 54th minute. Zain Ijaz struck two early goals to give Punjab a 2-0 lead at the outset of the match. Police struck through Nabeel on a penalty corner to reduce the margin before Hanan restored two goals’ advantage for Punjab.

Police were then seen controlling the game scoring through Amir Nawaz and Basharat to draw level 3-3 in the 45th minute. In other matches, Mari Petroleum and PAF played a 0-0 draw while Port Qasim Authority defeated Army 4-3.