News Analysis |
At the 2nd Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) All Pakistan Hockey Championship, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Wapda emerged victorious on last Tuesday’s matches. Day 2 of the CNS National Hockey Championship culminated at the National Hockey Stadium.
PAF was soundly beaten by Wapda to the tune of 1-8 on opening day and went on to lose their Day 2 fixture against SSGC as well. The stronger SSGC side continued to prevail alongside Wapda and NBP, all of whom are feasible title contenders. SSGC capitalized on penalty corner conversions going up 2-0 by virtue of having one of Pakistan’s top players; Mubashar Ali, on their side.
International player Aleem Bilal powerfully flicked an incoming penalty corner to score the opening goal.
The match seemed more balanced early on when PAF set up a strong defense against SSGC who were down on their numbers. It got more competitive towards the final quarter when the men PAF exhibited remarkable stamina in keeping possession. The effort paid off with PAF’s Adnan Haider scoring in the 50th minute but it was too late to go for the equalizer and the match concluded at 2 – 1.
However, it was the 2nd match of the day between NBP and Port Qasim Authority (PQA) that stole the show. PQA who also had earlier on lost to SNGPL set up a resolutely stubborn against the reigning champions; NBP. PQA drew first blood at the 20th minute when Ammar took advantage of the first penalty corner of the match and scored a surprise call for NBP in the top net.
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The more experienced NBP players did not need to be told twice and until the quarter finished attempted five penalty corners and dominating their opponents in terms of possession. One of these penalties ended up becoming the equalizer shot by NBP skipper; Shakeel Ammad Butt by a clever feint. NBP added two more goals on top of the equalizer thus ascertaining their win.
The second goal was scored neatly by Bilal Qadir who simply edged in a spectacular diagonal cross from Abubakr. The finishing touch came in the 45th minute when Dilber moved swiftly taking it up to 3-1. The fourth quarter was an even competition that exhibited some great sporting moments from PQA and NBP but yielded no more goals.
The solitary goal was managed through a skillful move from the right side by Bilal adding his expert finish to it.
The third fixture of the evening was played between Wapda and Police. Wapda had already entered the game powerfully routing PAF the previous day only to thrash police by an even greater margin of 9-1. Their second big victory in 2 days was absolute domination with Police not being able to mount a proper attack for the whole first half.
Police played cautiously keeping the ball in their possession up until the 15th minute. International player Aleem Bilal powerfully flicked an incoming penalty corner to score the opening goal. The rest came in a relentless salvo of goals with 4 goals in the second quarter alone.
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After halftime at 5-0 Wapda added 2 more goals per quarter although Police managed to realize that defense was not a very good offense too late in the last half. The solitary goal was managed through a skillful move from the right side by Bilal adding his expert finish to it. From Wapda Sohail Anjum scored 2 whereas Aleem Bilal, Imran, Ajaz Ahmed, Adnan Babar, Khizer Akhtar, Ajmal Butt, and Shajee Ahmed all scored 1 each.