Champions Okara struggle to beat Rahimyar Khan
In Pool “A”, despite an unimpressive performance, Okara defeated Rahimyar Khan 3-1 to make the last eight. Muhammad Zubair, scored the first goal converting a penalty-stroke in the 17th minute. A minute later, Tahir Mehmood doubled the lead. Okara surged 3-0 ahead when Ghulam Abbas slammed in the third goal in the 26th minute. Rahimyar Khan‘s only goal came through Arifullah Khan in the 52nd minute.
Adeel Akram, produced two goals to steer Sargodha to 3-0 win against Khanewal to qualify from Pool “E”. Adeel found the cage in the 39th and 43rd minute. Sajid struck the final goal in the 57th minute.
Bahawalpur cruised into the knock-out stage from Pool “G”, beating Mianwali 2-0.
Khalid Mehmood drew first blood in the 13th minute, converting a short corner. Mohammad Usman sealed the fate of the match by scoring a goal in the 33rd minute.
In Pool ‘H’, three goals by Moin Azam and two by Nuzin Yaseen guided Muzaffargarh to beat Khushab 5-0 and move on to the next round.
Nuzin struck in the 28th minute. Moin banged home his first two goals in six minutes (30th and 36th minutes) to increase the lead 3-0. Nuzin chipped in his second goal in the 43rd before Moin struck his third two minutes later to complete the tally.
Last year’s runners-up, Toba Tek Singh, trounced Sialkot 12-0 in pool’ A” thanks to four goals by Muhammad Usman including a hat trick.
Usman made a flying start completing his hat trick within the first eight minutes. He struck in the 4th, 7th and 8th minutes and his fourth goal came in the 30th minute. Zeeshan Akram (19th, 26th and 38th minutes) and Inyatullah (25th, 39th and 58th minutes) also played key roles in Sialkot’s thrashing. Muhammad Shahbaz and Irfan Aslam added a goal each in the 37th and 47th minutes, respectively.
In another match, four goals by Irfan Saeed completed Narowal’s 6-2 win against Bhakhar. Irfan struck in the 12th minute only to be equalised through Liaqat in the 21st minute. The winners scored three quick goals in quick succession, including two from Irfan (24th, 25th minutes) and one from Tabib (32nd minute) to forge ahead 4-1.
Liaqat hit his second goal for Bhakhar in the 45th minute. But thereafter, Narowal dominated the match adding two more goals to complete the tally. Irfan scored his fourth in the 47th minutes followed by Tabib a minute later.
Sheikhupura outclassed Sahiwal 7-1.
Imran scored in the 10th and 38th minutes. Arshad found the cage in the 48th and 55th minutes. Ghulam Hussain (12th minute), Raza Elahi (37th minute) and Waqar Ahmad (51st minute) completed the tally. For Sahiwal, Mansab Ali scored the solitary goal in the 17th minute.
Three goals by Amar, enabled Attock to beat Rawalpindi 5-1. Noman who scored the remaining two goals earned his first in the 4th minute. Usman scored back to back goals in the 8th and 13th minute to increase the lead 3-0. Rawalpindi slammed their solitary goal through Noman Akhtar in the 40th minute to reduce the margin 3-1. Amar struck his fourth in the 49th minute before Noman scored his second in the 58th minute to make the score 5-1.
Gujrat outplayed Dera Ghazi Khan 4-0.
Babar (1st minute), Shahbaz (20th minute), Saeed Asif (29th minute) and Idrees (57th minute) shared the scoring honours.
Muhammad Rizwan produced three goals to help Kasur blast Rajanpur 8-0. Rizwan scored goals in the 7th, 45th and 54th minute. Muhammad Nadeem (4th minute), Ihsanullah (26th minute) Abdur Rahman (28th minute), Shahbaz Ali (36th minute) and Muhammad Imran (56th minute) were the other scorers.
Okara 3 Rahimyar Khan 1
Sargodha 3 Khanewal 0
Bahawalpur 2 Mianwali 0
Muzaffargarh 5 Khushab 0
Toba Tek Singh 12 Sialkot 0
Narowal 6 Bhakhar 2
Sheikhupura 7 Sahiwal 1
Attock 5 Rawalpindi 1
Gujrat 4 D.G Khan 0
Kasur 8 Rajanpur 0