KARACHI: Formidable National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) will start the defence of their crown when they take on Railways on the opening day of the 34th National Junior (under-20) Hockey Championship which begins at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium on Thursday.

In the preceding two matches, Army faces Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) is pitted against Punjab “B”.

According to draws, 12 teams will be vying for honours in the competition which is an annual event of the PHF calendar.and concludes on April 24. The number of teams is four less then last year. The quartet that has pulled out from the event includes Customs, Islamabad, Pakistan Steel and Sindh “B”,

After completing league matches, top two teams from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals that will be played on April 20 and 21. The semi-finals are slated for April 23 while the final and third position play-off is fixed for April 24.

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has named former Olympian Anjum Saeed as tournament director.

The event is being organised by the Karachi Hockey Association (KHA) in collaboration with the provincial ministry of sports. All the teams have reached here for the event.

It is pertinent to mention that National Bank dethroned holders Wapda 2-1 to win the national junior title at the same venue last year.

The details of the event were announced by the PHF secretary Rana Mujahid, Secretary Sports Sindh, Laiq Ahmed and Karachi Hockey Association (KHA) secretary Mohammad Farooq Khan at a joint press conference held at the HCP Stadium on Wednesday.

Also present among others were chairman PHF selection committee Islahuddin Siddiqui, ex Olympians Iftikhar Syed, Shahid Ali Khan and Musheer Rabbani.

At the outset, the PHF secretary thanked the KHA for playing host to the event for the second year running with the support of ministry of sports Sindh.

He said the selectors will remain in attendance and identify pool of talented players who will be groomed to carry the responsibilities in future.

Speaking on the occasion, Laiq said it was an honour for the Sindh government to lend support in staging the event as people were eagerly waiting to see revival of national game.

He said the performances by Pakistan hockey team at international events held in the recent past were encouraging and the credit goes to the PHF.

Pools:

A: National Bank of Pakistan, Railways, Balochistan.

B: PIA, SSGC, Punjab “B”.

C: Wapda, Pakistan Boards, Sindh “A”.

D: Army, Punjab “A”, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Thursday’s fixtures:

Army v Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 9am; SSGC v Punjab “B” at 3pm; National Bank v Railways at 5pm.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2015

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