KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister’s XI scored 2-0 victory over Sindh Governor’s XI in an exhibition match that marked the formal inauguration of the 62nd National Hockey Championship at the newly laid desso turf of the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium on Friday.

Kashif Jawwad scored both the goals for the winners in the 18th and 38thminutes respectively.

Both the teams comprised former stalwarts of the yore who have won laurels to the nation and a couple of local players.Red carpet was unrolled and the stadium that has befittingly organised Champions’ Trophies, Asia Cup and Indo-Pakistan series matches among others during the golden era of game, was decorated with colourful balloons. The naval band was also in attendance. Though the stadium gives a fascinating look, a lot of work is still required to be done.

Additional chief secretary Sindh, Ajaz Ali Khan, who took personal interest in installation of the synthetic pitch at the HCP Stadium, declared the championship open in place of the Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who could not make it due to his pressing engagements.

Earlier, the additional chief secretary unveiled the plaque of the new synthetic turf at the entrance of the stadium.

The president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, secretary ex-Olympian Shahbaz Ahmed, secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Sindh Mohammad Rashid, tournament director Qamar Ibrahim, member PHF selection committee Waseem Feroz, noted veteran Olympians Samiullah and Jahangir Butt, squash wizard Jahangir Khan, cricketers Sadiq Mohammad and Moin Khan, veteran athlete Mohammad Talib, secretary Sindh Hockey Association Shahid Ali Khan and secretary of Karachi Hockey Association Farooq Khan were prominent among others who were present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, the organisers have revised the draws following withdrawal of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) at the eleventh hour leaving 19 teams in fray. Now pool C will have four teams instead of five. The other three pools that include five teams apiece remained unchanged.

Three matches were played on the opening day instead of four as the match between Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Port Qasim Authority (PQA) was advanced to the next day.

Pakistan Steel thrashed thrashed Islamabad 5-0 in the first match played at the HCP Stadium on Saturday.

Sultan Ashraf scored twice off penalty corners. Tauseef Ahmed also netted twice while M. Imran completed the tally.

Babar Hussain shone with four goals, including a hat-trick, second of the event, as Navy outplayed Balochistan 8-0 in another one-sided match. This was latter’s second defeat in as many days. Asad Aziz (PC), Ali Sher (PC), Kamran Asif and M. Asif Ali scored one goal apiece.

Abbas Hayder hogged limelight by slamming a hat-trick as Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) gave a lesson to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa registering an emphatic 7-0 victory.

Other scorers were Zeeshan Bokhari, Rizwan Ali, Yasir Shabbar and Kashif Shah (PC).

In yet another onbe-sided match, Port Qasim Authority (PQA) notched up 5-0 victory over Higher Education Commission (HEC).

M. Zubair Riaz scored twice, one off penalty corner, while Shakeel Abbasi, M. Atif and M. Salman shared the remaining goals.

Irshad slammed first hat-trick of the event as former champions Customs outplayed Islamabad 8-0 at Islahuddin-Dr. M. A. Shah Academy.

Irshad scored three goals in a span of 14-minutes in 43rd (PC), 53rd and 57th minutes. Rizwan, M. Jawaid, Haseem Khan, Abid Butt and Faisal Rasheed netted one goal apiece.

In the second match played at the same venue, Railways sent Sndh packing 5-1 with all he goals coming in the last two quarters.

Captain Mohammad Usman and Mohsin Jawaid struck once off penalty corners in the 45th and 50th minutes respectively while Mohammad Haleem (15th), M. Nawaz (49th) and Ahmed Nadeem (59th) scored once each. Taimoor scored the consolation goal for Sindh in the 48thminute.

Balochistan stunned Police 4-1 in the only match played at the HCP Stadium. The winners scored one goal in each quarter.

Asfandyar opened the account for Balochistan in the eighth minute but Policemen drew level through captain Waqas in the 17th minute. Mazhar Ali made it 2-1 in the 23rd minute. Imran enhanced the team’s lead to 3-1 in the 44th minute while Waqas scored his second goal off PC in the 52nd minute to seal the fate.

Sunday’s fixtures:

PIA v Railways at 9.30am, Customs v Steel Mills at 11.30am, PQA v Sindh at 1.30pm, National Bank of Pakistan v Navy at 3.30pm. (All matches will be played at the HCP Stadium).

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2015