Khyber Pakhtoonwa, Islamabad, WAPDA and PIA have conjured up victories

Karachi: Khyber Pakhtoonwa, Islamabad, WAPDA and PIA have conjured up victories on the fourth day of the 33^rd National Junior Hockey Championship at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium here on Sunday.

The boys from Frontier stunned Army in the opening match with their ability to bounce back. Two goals down, scored by Army’s Adnan Khalid in 21^st and 31^st minutes respectively they entered the fourth half with a different frame of mind and fought hard to turn the table on their opponents.

In six minutes they scored two goals to level the match. In the 52^nd minute Hamza Sajid scored a beautiful field goal and only three minutes before the final whistle Atif levelled the score through another field goal.

The match entered into the penalty shootouts stage where the KPK boys again demonstrated their skill and technique and did not miss any chance to convert all five chances while Army missed three. Moheyuddin and Qamar supervised the match.

In the second match Islamabad lads outshined Sindh (C) 3-1. The boys from Islamabad took lead in the 3^rd minute of the match when a furious attack launched by their forwards Sohaib, Mohammed Waqas and Ali Sher earned a penalty corner which Usman Junaid successfully converted to give his team lead. Shah Zaib slammed a field goal in the 14^th minute to consolidate his team’s position. Zaib again struck in the 54^th minute to score third goal, his second, for his team. Sindh’s lone goal was scored by Hanain in the 45^thminute. Mohammed Imran and Zahid were the field umpires.

WAPDA carved out a 7-0 victory against inexperienced Balochistan in the third match of the day. Their forwards scored goals at will. Ghazanfar Ali opened the account in the third minute successfully striking a penalty corner. Umar Hamadi scored first of his two goals in the 11^th minute, a field goal, and in the 38^th minute he converted a penalty corner. Mudassar Ali (17^th minute), Aqeeb (20^th minute), Mohammed Naveed (21^st minute) and Ali Bahadar (32^nd minute) al scored field goals. Surprisingly Balochistan displayed excellent game in the last half and launched a couple of attacks which even dazed their opponents for a while. However, they failed to reduce the lead. Arshad Hussain and Mohammed Shahid supervised the match.

PIA had to struggle hard in the last match of the day against, relatively inexperienced Punjab (W) which they ultimately won 3-1. After scoring two goals in the first half through Ilyas Ahmed in the 7^th minute, a field goal, and three minutes later on a penalty corner which was struck by Abu Bakr, they faced tough resistance in the second half in which they had to concede a goal as well which also reduced the margin of their lead. Hashir Ali Raza of Punjab scored a beautiful field goal in the 26^th minute. PIA’s Abu Bakr and Junaid Manzoor made a productive move in the 41^st minute on which Rana Sohail netted the ball into the goal post. Kamran Sharif and Sohail were the field umpires.