PIA and NBP will vie to lift the trophy on Saturday

Lahore: Pakistan International Airlines and National Bank of Pakistan will vie to lift the trophy of All Pakistan NBP Hockey Tournament at the National Hockey Stadium here on Saturday. The Tournament was contested on single league basis and both PIA and NBP emerged as two tops teams on the points table. The match will start at 4pm.

Earlier, Pakistan Railways, National Bank of Pakistan and PIA won their last matches on Friday, the seventh day of the ongoing Event. Railways thrashed HEC 5-1, NBP defeated WAPDA 3-1 and PIA beat ARMY 3-2.

The opening match of the day between Railways and HEC started at a fast pace and both teams launched a series of attacks against each other. HEC, however, scored the first lone goal in the 15^thminute through Kamran Maqsood. After conceding a goal the Railways forwards initiated aggressive attacks on their opponents and did not give them any relief throughout the match. They leveled the lead in the 25^th minute through a field goal by Adeel Latif and then got lead in the 32^ndminute when Aleem scored a beautiful field goal. Adeel Latif struck the third goal, his second, in the 43^rd minute to strengthen his team’s position. Rizwan (51^st minute) and Shehryar (60^th minute) scored one goal each for Railways. Zahid and Afsaar supervised the match.

The second match of the day was very important for NBP to maintain their image. They had to fight hard to win the match against WAPDA. Their forwards launched combined moves amid accurate passes and scored their first goal in the 11^th minute through Attique who scored on a penalty corner. WAPDA leveled the score in the 25^th minute through Mohammed Usman. The bankers struck their second goal in the 35^th minute when a beautiful cross from Olympian Akhtar Ali was neatly deflected by Ayyub into the net. In the last minute of the match, Ayyub, Amir and Bilal Qadir made a productive move and reached in the D where experienced Akhtar Ali made no mistake to score the third goal for the bankers. WAPDA missed a chance in the 52^nd minute of the match. Nawaz couldn’t take a rebound in the D when goalkeeper had lost his fort. Kamran Sharif and Kamran Hussain were the field umpires.

Spectators enjoyed every moment of the last match of the day between PIA and ARMY. After playing first two scoreless quarts, both teams entered the third half with even chances. However, PIA struck three goals in six minutes. Abu Baker drew the first blow by successfully converting a penalty corner in the 33^rd minute. Three minutes later Imran Khan scored a field goal and in the 39^thminute Abu Baker again converted a penalty corner to give his team 3-0 lead. After trailing behind three goals, ARMY regrouped themselves and their forwards launched ferocious attacks on PIA. In the 52^nd minute of the match Shahid Ali Khan scored the first goal for his team. Three minutes later ARMY got a penalty corner and this time Muzammal Haq made no mistake to net the ball. The match entered into a thrilling stage as ARMY withdrew their goalkeeper and exerted pressure through their forwards. The strategy worked instantly as they made a move through Shahid Saleem and Adul Jabbar and entered into the D where Safeer missed an easy chance to level the score. Munir Ahmed and Hamza supervised the match.