PESHAWAR: Army, Punjab secured victories against their respective rivals while the PAF and Navy played a 1-1 draw in the men’s hockey event of the 31st National Games at the Abbottabad Hockey Stadium on Wednesday. The first match was played between Army and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which was won 3-0 by the former.
Army took lead in the 10th minute through unmarked Abdul Jabbar.
KP, after conceding a goal, managed their position and got three successive penalty-corners but none of them could be utilised due to poor finishing.
In the 26th minute, Pakistan full-back Mohammad Imran sounded the board with forceful hit from the top of the circle and made the tally 2-0. After taking two goals lead, Army kept up pressure and got two penalty-corners but failed to score.
At the half-time, Army was leading 2-0.
After resumption of the second half, Army tightened grip over the match and did not allow Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to play freely.
It was in the 59th minute, when Mohammad Umar netted a fine goal to make the tally 3-0.
Punjab shocked Wapda 3-2 in the thrilling second match.
Despite having the services of penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas, Wapda failed to click and lost the match.
Punjab’s Tauseeq Arshad opened the account in the 16th minute while Shafqat Rasool doubled the lead in the 22nd minute.
Wapda came back strongly and tied the tally well before the half-time when Asad scored a field goal and Sohail Abbas netted a fine goal to level the tally 2-all.
In the dying moments of the match, Shafqat Rasool converted a penalty-stroke to make the tally 3-2.
The third match between the PAF and Navy ended in a 1-1 draw where Mushtaq scored a field goal for the PAF in the 13th minute while Waqas scored on a 35th-minute penalty-corner.—APP
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