LAHORE, Jan 24: Defending champions PIA, along with nine other teams qualified for the final round of the 56th National Hockey Championship at the National Hockey Stadium here on Saturday.

The other teams are Sui Gas, besides PIA from Pool ‘A’. From Pool ‘B’, NBP and Railways, from ‘C’, Army and HBL and from ‘D’ it is Sindh and KESC.

From Pool ‘E’ Police and Capital Territory entered the last 10.

Meanwhile, five matches were decided on the final preliminary day.

In the first match, Sui Gas beat PTV 4-1 after an interval score line of 1-1. Shakeel Abbasi (20th, 22nd and 53rd mins) and Abbas Haider (67th min) were the scorers for the winners. Waqar Ahmad (22nd min), meanwhile, scored for the losing team.

Railways crushed NWFP 7-1 after getting a 3-1 lead in the first session of play.

Khurram Shahzad (14th and 15th mins), Yasir (18th min), Adnan Aslam (42nd min), Akbar Ali (52nd and 59th mins) and Hafiz Sohail (53rd min) were the scorers. Saad Iqbal scored the solitary goal for the losing side.

NBP earned a 5-0 win against KESC. Mohammad Ateeq (27th and 29th min), Sumair Saleem (33rd min) and Haseem Khan (40th and 45th mins) were the scorers for the bankers.

Wapda defeated Steel Mills 5-2. For Wapda, Khurram Butt (5th), Rehan Butt (30th min), Waqas Sharif (35th min), Asif (44th min) and Waseem Ahmad (69th min) were the scorers. Rauf (15th and 70th mins) was the scorer for the losing side.

In last match, HBL beat PAF 3-2. For the bankers, Azlan Khan scored in the 11th and 38th minutes. Zubair (45th min) was the other scorer. For PAF, Kashif Yaqoob and Imran Hafeez struck in the 65th and 68th minutes.