National Hockey Championship: Ahsanullah, Zubair down Railways

PIA’s duo score two goals apiece to give side 4-1 win

KARACHI: Ahsanullah and Muhammad Zubair scored two goals each to guide Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to a 4-1 win over Pakistan Railways in the National Hockey Championship at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium in Karachi on Sunday.

Ahsanullah converted two penalty corners to give PIA a 2-0 lead going into the final quarter. Mohammad Zubair then added two field goals in the dying minutes of the game to seal the win. Khalid Ahmed scored a consolation for Railways in the 58th minute.

In the second match, Mohammed Imran’s hat-trick helped Pakistan Steels defeat Customs 5-3. Imran opened the scoring in the 13th minute through a field goal. He followed that up by successfully converting a penalty corner in the 37th minute and completed his hat-trick by once again finding the net in the 40th.

Sultan Ashraf and Majid Khan were Pakistan Steel’s other goalscorers, while Zeeshan, Ali and Farrukh scored one each for Customs.

In the third match, PQA humiliated Sindh 7-0 as Kashif Jawad scored a hat-trick. Shakeel Abbasi added two more goals, while  Nasir and Mohammed Atif scored one each to complete the rout.

In the last match, NBP came from a goal down to defeat Navy 4-2. Asad Aziz had given Navy the lead in the 21st minute before Bilal Qadir struck twice for NBP to give his side the lead. Akhtar Ali and Dilbar Hussain then netted two field goals in the 52nd and 54th minute respectively to seal the win, while Mohsin Sabir scored from a penalty corner in the 59th to get a consolation for his side.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2015.

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