NBP to face PIA in hockey final

Wapda, SSGC beaten in National Championship semi finals.

NBP beat Wapda 4-3 on penalty shootout after being deadlocked 2-2 at the end of extra-time in the semi-final of the 58th National Hockey Championship being held at the Faisalabad Hockey Stadium. They will now face PIA, who defeated SSGC in the other last-four match, in the final today.

NBP’s Naeem Akbar opened his team’s account in the ninth minute before Mohammad Atiq doubled the lead in the 11th. The goal-spree continued as Rehan Butt reduced the deficit for Wapda as he scored in the 13th minute.

Both teams found hard to score thereafter as NBP led 2-1 at the interval of the match. It seemed as if NBP would scrape through before Mohammad Imran scored in the 66th minute to level the scores and take the match into extra-time.

Even there, there was little to separate the teams as NBP found the net four times in the shootout against Wapda’s three goals.

Golden goal takes PIA through

Shafqat Rasool led from the front and scored the golden goal for PIA in the 74th minute of the match after they were level with SSGC 2-2 at full-time.

Kashif Ali scored the opener in the 11th minute to give PIA a 1-0 lead before Mohammad Zubair strengthened their position by scoring in the 24th minute.

The match seemed to be slipping away from SSGC before Abbas Haider turned the tables.

The striker scored a brace, goals in the 27th and 37th minutes of the match, as teams went to extra time. However, Rasool hit the goal first as PIA set up a showdown with NBP.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2011.