National volleyball reaches semi-final stage

ISLAMABAD—PAF gained a semi-final berth despite losing by hair’s breadth to another title aspirants Wapda in the Men’s National Volleyball Championship at Liaquat Gymnasium, Pakistan Sports Complex, on Thursday.
Pakistan Air Force (PAF) will now clash against Pakistan Army in the first semi-final at 2.00 p.m. while Wapda will take on defending champions Police in the other semi-final at 4.00 p.m. on Friday.
The final is scheduled for Saturday (2.00 p.m.) when the Federal Minister for Sports, Mian Shamim Haider, will give away the trophy. Four matches were played on the second and last day of the quarter-final league of the championship with Wapda stretched to the limit before overcoming a fighting PAF after full five games—25-23, 27-29, 25-21, 17-25, 15-12.
For Wapda, Ali Abbas, Farooq and Jawad played better while Ismael, Riaz and Saeed put up good show for PAF. In another keenly-contested match, former champions Pakistan Army got the better of title holders Police by identical 3-2 margin. The spikers dazzling among the Soldiers ranks were Sanaullah, Zaheer Abbas, Naeem Khan and Raja Naeem while cops notable for their game were Naseer Ahmed, Sajid, Kashif and Zaman Butt.
In two other, albeit inconsequential, matches of the quarter-final league, NWFP swept past Pakistan Navy 3-0 and Punjab surprised POF 3-1. The trio of Abdur Rahim, Arbab Imran and Saadullah lifted NWFP to 25-17, 25-15, 25-23 victory over Sailors for whom Abdul Razzaq, Jamaat Ali and Tariq played their hearts out.
In Punjab’s consolation victory (32-30, 17-25, 25-21, 25-23), the players to note were Sifarish Ali, Zaheer Aamir and Yasir Butt while Adnan, Liaquat and Asfandyar served the POF better.—Online