March 14, 2008	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 5, 1429

LAHORE, March 13: Police and the Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) earned well-deserved victories as six more matches were decided in the national volleyball championship here at the Wapda Sports Complex on Thursday.

After an 80-minute battle between Police and Wapda, the scores (25-17, 20-25, 25-20, 25-18) turned in Police’s favour who carved out a 3-1 victory.

Mohammad Zaman, a setter, and Mohib Rasool, a smasher, proved outstanding players for Police while Maveed Khan fought well for Railways.

The POF overcame the challenge from Frontier Constabulary (FC) 3-1. The contest which lasted 89 minutes, produced the result in POF’s favour, the score being 25-23, 25-13, 21-25, 25-20. Ihsan Iqbal and Yasir Mahmood scored for the winners while POF’s Farooq Khan and Gulbaz Khan gave them a tough time.

The rest of the matches were all won in straight sets.Navy sailed easily, beating Higher Education Commission (HEC) 25-13, 25-12, 25-12. Tariq Mahmood, Syed Shujaa played well for the winners while Jalil Ahmed remained prominent for the losing side.

Punjab thrashed Sindh 25-18, 25-16, 25-15. Adnan Pasha, a setter, and Basit Ali, a smasher, played vital roles in the win. Sindh’s Mumtaz resisted well as the match continued for 70 minutes.

NWFP outclassed Azad Jammu and Kashmir 3-0. NWFP completed the win with the score of 25-18, 25-16, 25-15. Left-hander smasher Faisal Khan and the tall Aimal Khan played well for the winners while Mohammad Kamran worked hard for the losing side.

Defending champions Army carved out another easy win, outplaying Fata 25-9, 25-7, 25-7. Mohammad Siddique, Masood Ahmad and Nadeem Ashraf played well as Army folded up the win in just 45 minutes.

There will be six more matches on Friday after which eight teams will qualify for the quarter-finals.