PIA face NBP in hockey final today

KARACHI: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Pakistan International Airline (PIA) reached the final of Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup Hockey Tournament after defeating their rivals on Thursday.
NBP trounced Railways 5-2 and PIA crushed Customs 5-1 in the two semi-finals at Customs Sports Complex.
Railways, who suffered 10-1 defeat in their last match, played aggressively against much superior opponents to make it an interesting semi-final. They stunned NBP with a 3rd minute goal which was the culmination of a beautiful move between Owais and Mohammed Rizwan. Owais who got a pass inside the D made no mistake in netting the ball.
NBP’s Tariq Aziz leveled the score in the 12th minute on a pass from Arslan Qadir.
Their captain Tousiq Arshad struck two goals in the second quarter to consolidate his team’s position. His sole effort inside the 25 line got a penalty corner, which he himself struck successfully in the 18th minute.
Tousiq scored his second goal also on a penalty corner but instead of trying a direct hit he dodged a dasher and netted the ball in the 23rd minute.
Arslan struck a field goal in the 48th minute.
Railways hit their second through a fine move between Rizwan and captain Zeeshan, who gave a pass to Owais who again struck a hard blow in the 49th minute.
NBP’s Kashif Shah converted a penalty corner in the 53rd minute.
Man of the match Tousiq received Rs50,000.
In the other semi-final, brilliant dribbling and interception by Customs’ forwards kept star-studded PIA in trouble throughout the first two quarters.
Sikandar Mustafa, Haseem Khan, Kamran Khan and Rizwan Khan were excellent in their tackling and carrying the ball.
Haseem saved a certain goal when he intercepted a hit in the D. Mohammed Naveed’s field goal in the 11th minute put pressure on PIA.
The airliners bounced back in the last two quarters when they launched a number of combined attacks, which resulted in five goals.
PIA’s Azfar Yaqoob scored two goals. He first leveled the score in the 41st minute and then scored the last goal of his team in the 58th minute on a pass s from Waseem Akram in the D.
Inyatullah (43rd min) and Waseem Akram (45th min) scored two field goals. Nohaiz Malik struck a penalty corner in the 46th minute. PIA’s Amir Shahzad was declared man of the match and got Rs50,000. The final will be played at the same venue at 3pm on Friday (today).