-Photo by APP (file)

PESHAWAR: Top contenders Punjab, Wapda and Army booked a berth into the next round after securing victories against their respective rivals in the hockey event of the 31st National Games being played at Abbottabad Hockey Stadium on Sunday.

The star-studded Punjab side, which includes a host of international players, defeated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) by 5-1, thanks to full-back Tauseeq Haider who scored a brilliant all penalty-corner hat-trick.

Punjab took the lead through full-back Haider in the 13th minute after which KP put on a spirited offensive effort but found themselves tightly marked and unable to make any successful finishes.

Haide scored two more goals in the 17th and 23rd minutes while Abdul Qadir (61st)      and Arsalan (63rd) were the other scorers.

In the dying moments Afsar reduced the margin for KP but by then his side were well beaten.

In the second match Wapda beat PAF by 4-2. On the back of a successful opening match display, penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas again got on the score sheet and this time made it a hat-trick of penalty corner conversions.

Ahmad Rashid scored the other goal for Wapda as PAF toiled hard to pull back two goals through Asad and Said Shah.

In the last match Army beat Navy by 2-1. Both Army and Navy put on a brilliant attacking display but it was Army that opened the scoring through center forward Afzal in the 38th minute. Army was leading by 1-0 at half-time.

In the second-half Navy upped the ante to level terms through a fine field goal from Kashif.

However, Muhammad Imran crashed a penalty corner late into the Navy net to seal the fate in the latter stages of the match.