LAHORE: PIA and Wapda reached the PSO 61st National Hockey Championship final after recording contrasting wins in the semi-finals at Sialkot’s Nawaz Sharif Hockey Stadium on Saturday.

PIA fought hard to overcome the challenge from National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) on penalty shoot-out on sudden death 7-6.

Wapda, however, earned a 3-1 win against Army in the other semi-final. The final will be held on Sunday.

The first semi-final between PIA and NBP ended in sudden death stage of the penalty shootout. PIA’s Shafqat Rasool netted the ball while NBP’s Tauseeq Ahmed missed.

No team could score in the first two quarters. PIA made a number of good moves but the bankers’ sturdy defence thwarted those attempts. In the third quarter, a fine move featuring NBP players Akhtar Ali and Ali Shan helped them reach the circle where they created a penalty corner for their team. Akhtar Ali successfully converted it in the 34th minute.

Eight minutes later, NBP forwards launched another attack through Akhtar and Tauseeq and created a chance for Shan Irshad who scored a beautiful field goal in the 42nd minute to make it 2-0.

However, in the next three minutes, the scoreline read 2-2 as PIA staged a brilliant comeback.

In the 44th minute Ammad Butt scored a beautiful field goal to reduce the margin to 1-2. In the 45th, PIA forwards Shafqat Rasool and Mohammed Zubair pierced deep into the circle and got the only penalty corner, which was converted by Amir Shehzad to make it 2-2, the scoreline which remained intact till the end of regulation time and the match extended to penalty shootout.

In the other semi-final, Wapda overcame Army 3-1.

Army took lead in the fifth minute when Rizwan Sr scored a beautiful goal. Mohammad Aleem scored the equaliser in the 15th minute capitalising on a penalty corner.

In the fourth quarter, Wapda scored two more goals in a span of three minutes of the last quarter. In the 54th minute, Umar Bhutta converted a penalty-corner and in the 57th Mohammed Ijaz scored a field goal to confirm his team’s victory.

Meanwhile, a five-day National Coaching Clinic organised by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) concluded in Sialkot.

The clinic was a part of PHF’s Development Plan aimed at enhancing the competence of the coaches associated with national teams.

The clinic was conducted by Olympians Shahnaz Sheikh, Tahir Zaman and retired Col Nadeem Bhatti while Asif Bajwa acted as the coordinator.

They evaluated the performance of the national coaches associated with teams participating in the 61st National Hockey Championship.

According to PHF secretary Rana Mujahid, the next clinic will be held during the forthcoming Chief of the Army Staff Gold Hockey Cup in Rawalpindi later this month.

The participants were former Olympians Qamar Ibrahim, Mohammed Shafqat, Danish Kaleem, Anjum Saeed, Zeeshan Ashraf, Kamran Ashraf, Sameer Hussain, Tariq Sheikh, Waseem Ahmed, Dr Atif Bashir and Mohammad Afzal Mujahid.

Published in Dawn January 11th , 2014

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