Quaid Hockey Championship: four matches decided

LAHORE (APP): Four matches were decided on the tenth day of of First Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Division Hockey Championship here on Wednesday at the National hockey stadium.

Multan division hockey team emerged the winner in the first match of the 10th day against Sahiwal by 2-1. Usman Iftikhar of Multan struck the first goal of the match in the 19th minute through a penalty stroke. The next goal was scored by Akbar Ali of Multan in 46th minute when he sent the ball into goal post after an impressive field move hatched by his forward line.

Sahiwal’s skipper Rehman Ali scored a field goal in 54th minute but it was too late for them to change the fateof the match. Both the teams got one penalty corner each during the stipulated time.

Hockey fans witnessed the similar result in the second match of the day. This time, the spirited Bahawalpur team stunned the strong Sargodha outfit by 2-1 in a closely fought encounter. Both teams were indulged in tense fight and tried their best to score a goal but they failed to do so in the first 42 minutes of the match.

Then Bahawalpur’s Ali Murtaza and skipper Absar bin Rauf struck two field goals within four minutes time in 43rd and 47th minute to put their team in a strong position. Ibrar Arshad of Sargodha converted a penalty corner to score his team’s only goal in 59th minute.

Bahawalpur and Sargodha team were given five and three penalty corners respectively. The third encounter was played between DG Khan and Faisalabad hockey teams.

Faisalabad hockey team looked in an aggressive mood. They did not allow their opponents to settle down throughout the match and pulverized them by a big margin of 6-0.

Faisalabad hockey team’s Mohammad Usman and Ibrahim (two goals each), captain Ali Raza and Hasan Shahbaz scored their goals in 11th, 31st, 34th, 39th, 43rd and 52nd minutes. Faisalabad and DG Khan got six and two penalty corners respectively.

Lahore defeated Gujranwala by 4-1 in the fourth and last match of the day. Hasan Ameen of Lahore was in prime form. He netted three beautiful field goals in 36th, 38th and 55th minutes while the fourth goal was scored by Hammad Ali in 49th minute on a penalty stroke. Gujranwala’s lone goal was scored by Abdul Rehman in 7th minute of the match.