Wapda, HBL, PAF, Multan register victories in hockey
Bureau Report

PESHAWAR—Pakistan Wapda, HBL, PAF and Multan recorded victories against their respective rivals in the 55th National Hockey Championship being played here at Lala Ayub Hockey Stadium on Wednesday.
Pakistan Wapda crashed Rawalpindi by 16-1 before leading 7-0 at half-time, HBL edged past Sargodha by 3-1, PAF shocked Karachi Colors by 6-1 before leading 1-0 at half-time and Multan upset Karachi White by 6-1.
The match between Wapda and Rawalpindi was a one-sided affairs and strong Wapda who have also the services of former Pakistan’ skipper Rehan Butt, Olympian Waseem Ahmed, internationals Naveed Iqbal, Muhammad Shabir, Imran Khan, Mudassir Ali khan and Waqas Sharif fully dominated the proceedings by not allowing Rawalpindi to play with free hands.
Rehan Butt scored eight individual goals, Waqas Sharif scored three individual goals, full-back Rana Sajjad slammed two goals, Mudassir, Waseem Ahmed, Rana Javed scored one goal each while Waqas reduced the margin. Rana Liaqat and Mohsin Ali Khan supervised the match.
In the second match HBL defeated Sargodha by 3-1 in the thrilling match. HBL took the lead in the 8th minute through Ejaz Rasool on the field attempt but was not remained for long time and was tied by Sargodha through Aamir Rauf on the field attempt.
After 1-1, HBL kept up pressure to get the lead and it was in the 12th minute when full-back Rana Zubair sounded the board with his powerful hit. Right-winger Adeel Hussain made a combine move along with inside right Rashid Imran and both quickly zoomed into the danger zone where Rashid Imran got the penalty corner.
After 2-1, HBL made it 3-1 when inside right Rashid Imran slammed a beautiful goal on the field attempt before dodging three defenders. Sargodha also made some combine inroad but they were failed to reduce the margin. Sargodha also got 7 penalty corners but all of them went abortive. Mubarak Ali and Anwar Hussain supervised the match.
PAF beat Karachi Colors by 6-1. PAF also got control over the position of the ball right from the outset. For PAF Zeeshan scored four goals including a hat-trick while Rizwan and Saeed Shah scored one goal each. For Karachi Colors Asif Aslam reduced the margin. Asif Junior and Munawar Hussain supervised the match.
In the last match of the day’s proceedings Multan beat Karachi White by 6-1. For Multan center forward Shafaqat scored four goals while inside right Naveed Akram scored two goals, all on the field attempts while for Karachi White Arif Hanif scored the only goal. Anwar Hussain and Kamran Sharif supervised the match.