LAHORE: PIA, Police and the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) won their respective matches in the National Hockey Championship at the Johar Town Stadium here on Wednesday.

In the first match, PIA chalked up a 3-1 win against Navy. PIA took the lead first when young centre-half Ammad Butt struck a field goal in a solo effort in the very first minute of the game. Navy tried hard to equalise but failed due to some fine defence by PIA goalkeeper as the first half ended at PIA leading 1-0.

Navy finally equalised in the second half through centre-forward Akbar Ali in the 37th minute. However a minute later, PIA’s left-in Mohammad Zubair scored a goal off a short-corner giving his side a 2-1 lead. Centre-forward Inayatullah sealed the fate of the match scoring a field goal in the 51st minute, handing PIA a well-deserved victory.

Navy, meanwhile, wasted as many as eight short-corners.

Meanwhile, three goals each by Awais and Aamir Ali guided Police to a 7-3 win against the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The match started at a high pace as both sides raided each other’s goalpost. Police drew the first blood through center-half Abu Bakr in the 11th minute. Two minutes later, HEC’s right-out Adeel Zaman equalised as the 1-1 scoreline lasted till half-time.

Police displayed complete domination in the second half, piercing through HEC defences to add six more goals, while conceding two. Forward Aamir gave Police 2-1 lead in the 39th minute and Awais made it 3-1 in the 44th. Two minutes later, Aamir Ali further consolidated his team’s position putting Police 4-1 ahead, as he struck a field goal.

Awais scored again in the 48th and 64th minutes while a 69th minute goal by Aamir Ali put Police beyond the reach of the HEC who scored their second and third goals through Zeeshan (53rd) and Ali Raza (63rd).

In the day’s last match, the SSGC carved out a 3-1 win against the Port Qasim Authority (PQA).

Olympian Shakeel Abbasi opened their account in the sixth minute converting a short-corner, which the PQA equalled through a goal from Asif in the 22nd minute. Two minutes later, Mubashir Ali’s goal gave the SSGC a 2-1 ahead which remained intact till the half-time whistle.

In the second half, SSGC’s Yasir Shabbir scored the third goal in the 58th minute to complete the tally.

Thursday’s fixtures: Police v PQA, Navy v Army, NBP v PTV.