LAHORE: Lahore and Faisalabad reached the final of the inaugural Quaid-e-Azam Inter-division Hockey Championship after winning their nail-biting semifinals here at the National Hockey Stadium on Saturday.

Lahore defeated Sargodha 6-5 on sudden death penalty shoot while Faisalabad edged Bahawalpur 3-2 to reach the final.

The title-clash will be played on Tuesday.

Pakistan chief selector Manzoor Junior, head coach Khawaja Junaid, Olympian Tauqir Dar, Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh, Director Sports Hafeez Bhatti and a good number of spectators watched both the thrilling encounters.

Meanwhile, two-goal Mohammad Sajid helped Faisalabad to beat a spirited Bahawalpur side 3-2. He scored in the 14th and 49th minutes. Moazzam banged home with third goal in the 56th minute.

For Bahawalpur Mohammad Uzair (50th) and Absar bin Rauf (53rd) were the scorers. But Moazzam’s 56th-minute goal stamped victory of Faisalabad.

In the second semi-final, Lahore and Sargodha were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation time as a very close fight was witnessed throughout the match.

For Lahore, Hannan Shahid drew the first blood in the 11th minute but Sargodha restored the parity, seven minutes later through Ibrar Arshad. In the penalty-shoot both the teams could cash in on three, out of a total five, apiece to be remained tied at 4-4.

Then on sudden death, Lahore emerged winner when Sargodha’s Shaheer could not capitalise on the shoot-out while Mohammad Amar successfully converted it for Lahore.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2021