LAHORE: Punjab Colours, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Wapda registered wins on the first day of the 35th National Junior Hockey Championship at the National Hockey Stadium here on Wednesday.

Wapda carved out a 2-1 win against Railways, Punjab Colours beat Pakistan Ordnance Factories 3-1, SSGC outclassed Sindh 5-1and NBP annihilated Pakistan Board 9-0.

In the most thrilling encounter of the day, Wapda faced tough fight from Railways. The Railways kept the experienced men of Wapda at bay in the first two quarters before Mohammad Mateen cashed in on a penalty-corner in the 38th minute.

The Wapda lead was doubled by Sohail Anjum in the 48th. A minute later, Railways’ goal through Mohammad Shaharyar reduced the lead to 2-1.

However, Wapda managed to maintain the slim lead till the final whistle.

Meanwhile, a hat-trick by Daud Ahmed helped Punjab Colours stun the POF.

After opening his account in the sixth minute, Daud exerted more pressure in the second quarter with his second goal on a pass from Mohsin Sabir in the 28th.

Trailing 0-2, the POF bounced back strongly in the third quarter which turned the one-sided match into an interesting encounter.

In the 41st minute, Amjad and Amir Farooq made a productive move and in the circle Amjad availed the pass, which he neatly put into the net to reduce the margin.

Making some nice moves, the POF forwards earned two back-to-back penalty corners in the 44th and 45th minutes but could not convert any of those.

Daud completed his hat-trick in the 56th minute when he capitalised on a fine pass from Ghulam Abbas.

SSGC dominated from the outset in their match against Sindh.

They drew the first blood in the fourth minute through Hassan Anwar, who successfully converted a penalty corner. In the 27th minute, Zeeshan Bukhari doubled the lead through a field attempt.

In the third quarter, SSGC recorded three field goals in a span of eight minutes to completely outclass their opponents. Rana Suhail (31st), Adeel Latif (37th) and captain Mohammed Rizwan (38th) were the scorers.

In the last match, NBP proved goal-hungry as they simply bulldozed Pakistan Board 9-0. Bilal Qadir (11th min, 52nd min), Amir Ali (16th, 58th), Ali Raza (20th), Azfar Yaqoob (21st min), Abu Bakr Mahmood (25th) and Mohammed Dilber (49th) and Mohammad Junaid (60th) were the scorers.

Earlier, Usman Anwar, director general Sports Board Punjab, inaugurated the championship in a colourful ceremony. He announced Rs500,000 for the winners, Rs300,000 for the runners-up and Rs200,000 for the third position.

Thursday’s matches:

Customs vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Whites, Army vs Islamabad, Police vs Punjab Whites, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Colours vs Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2016