KARACHI Formidable Wapda came from behind to lift the national hockey championship title after a 4-1 defeat to SSGC at Hockey Club of Pakistan on Sunday.
The champions, who accumalated 24 points, were rattled when the losers opened the scoring seconds before the halftime through an Abbas Haider penalty corner.
Wapda, however, came back when Sohail Abbas equalised on a penalty stroke five minutes into second half. Waqas Sharif slammed home for Wapda two minutes later, while Asif Michael added the third 10 minutes later.
Rehan Butt sealed the fate of the match with a 67th-minute strike.
Tariq Aziz's equaliser helped National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) finish as runners-up after a 2-2 draw with PIA.
Although bankers opened their account with a Muhammad Taufeeq goal in the 10th minute, PIA restored parity with a Shafqat Rasool strike in the 42nd minute.
The national airlines went 2-1 ahead after a Muhammad Zubair goal in the 53rd minute before Tariq slammed home their equaliser five minutes before the final whistle.
While Habib Bank (HBL) and PIA had 19 points each, the bankers settled for third position on better goal average, while national airlines finished fourth.
Pakistan Army edged past Port Qasim Authority (PQA) 3-2 thanks to a Shahid Rao winner.
Shakeel Ahmad scored the opening goal for PQA in the eighth minute before the soldiers equalised through Waqas Jr in the 20th minute, and then went 2-1 ahead in the 42nd minute when Kashif Ali found the target.
PQA put the game on an even keel after Samiullah found the cage in the 61st minute. Army scored the match-winner on a penalty corner converted by Shahid.
Ironically, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Qasim Zia, who is the Pakistan People's Party leader in Punjab, did not even come to watch the matches of the championship on the final day.
On the other hand the chief guest, Sindh Sports Minister, Muhammad Ali Shah, reached the venue when the last match ended.
The “national championship” has been a farce since it was played on single league format and the teams were placed according to their standing on points table.
Points table (tabulated as teams, matches played, won, lost, draw, goal for, goals against, points)
Wapda 9 8 1 0 33 14 24
NBP 9 6 2 1 40 22 19
HBL 9 6 2 1 19 10 19
PIA 9 5 2 2 30 14 17
Army 9 5 3 1 28 17 16
PQA 9 3 5 1 23 28 10
SSGC 9 3 5 1 22 26 10
Navy 9 2 6 1 22 30 7
KESC 9 1 7 1 22 53 4
PAF 9 0 6 3 17 42 3
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