LAHORE, Jan 22: World’s top scorer and penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas hit two goals to enable Wapda to beat Navy 6-2 in the 56th National Hockey Championship at the National Hockey Stadium here on Thursday.

Sohail, who recently came out of retirement in favour of representing his country again, has also joined Wapda. He converted two short-corners out of a total number of six that he hit. It was his first match for Wapda after coming out of retirement.

Sohail scored first in the fifth minute while Khurram Butt made it 2-0, crowning a field effort. Waqas Sharif cashed in on a field attempt in the 13th minute as Wapda made a stormy 3-0 start. But a 16th minute goal by Mushtaq Ahmad reduced the lead to 3-1.

Back-to-back goals by Zakirullah, first in the 30th minute and then in the 39th minute put Wapda at the front with 5-1.

Rao Nadeem made it 6-2 for Navy in the 64th minute, before Sohail converted another short-corner in the 69th minute to complete the tally.

Three-goal Inayatullah, Mehmood Ali and Ehsanullah propelled defending champions Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to a crushing 17-2 win against Balochistan.

PIA led the first half by an overwhelming margin of 11-1.

Olympian Shafqat Rasool drew first blood in the sixth minute and Inayat fired three goals in a row in the ninth, 11th and 23rd minutes as the winners built up a quick 4-0 lead.

Mehmood netted two goals in the 23rd and 25th minutes while Mohammad Zubair slammed one in the 27th minute to increase the lead to 7-0. One minute later, Balochistan reduced the margin through Amir to make the score 7-1. Ehsanullah (30th min), Mohammad Imran (31st min), Mukhtar Ahmad (34th and 35th mins) got a big lead at the end of the first half.

After resumption of play, the champions reduced the pressure and added six more through Ehsan (38th and 41st mins), Mehmood (45th min), Zubair (59th min) and Kashif (51st and 66th mins). Mohammad Salim produced the second goal for the losers in the 66th minute.

Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) earned their second win defeating NWFP 2-0.

All the goals were scored in the first half as Amir Iqbal struck the first in the 10th minute and Irfan Khan in the 32nd minute.

Two-goal Malik Imran gave Pakistan Steel Mills an impressive 6-0 win against Sindh after leading the first half 2-0.

Imran found the cage in the ninth and 55th minutes, while Imran (26th min), Fayyaz Ahmad (40th min), Ishtiaq Ahmed (56th min), Sultan Ashraf (63rd min) were the other scorers.

Two-goal each by Moazzam Ali and Rizwan Butt helped Punjab register their second consecutive win outplaying Capital Territory 7-2.

Punjab led the first half 3-2.

Nisar Aslam (2nd min), Moazzam (31st and 60th mins), Rizwan (30th and 61st mins), Asif Aslam (48th min) and Mohammad Saqlain (63rd min) scored for Punjab while Najeebullah (26th min) and Sohail (33rd min) reduced the margin for Capital Territory.

Two-goal Naeem Akbar helped National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) maintain a winning streak with a second triumph against Railways 3-1. Naeem (16th and 59th mins) and M. Taufeeq (65th min) struck for the winners.

Khurram Shahzad (69th min) scored for the losing outfit.

Port Qasim carved out a 3-1 win against Police after losing the first half 1-0.

Owais Khan (36th min), Mohsin (40th min), Malik Shakeel (41st min) scored for the winners. Atif Baig (31st min) struck for the losing side.

Eight more matches will be played on Friday as per the following schedule:

Sui Gas v Balochistan; Railways v Sindh; Punjab v Port Qasim;

Wapda v Sindh; Police v Capital T.; PTV v PIA; Steel Mills v Navy; Army v PAF.