LAHORE - Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda)-A, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) won their matches on the third day of the ongoing 1st Brig Manzoor Hussain Atif Memorial Hockey Tournament at the Sargodha Hockey Stadium on Thursday.
According to Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) spokesman, Wapda-A stunned Police 7-0, NBP defeated Navy 6-2 and PIA beat Army 4-3 on Tuesday.
Wapda-A outclassed Police 7-0 in the opening match which proved one-sided affair. Police defenders were clueless against the aggression demonstrated by Wapda’s forwards who entered their area at will and frequently netted the ball into the fence. Forward M Adnan with three goals in the 8th, 45thand 65th minutes respectively and Asad Bashir’s two goals in the 5th and 42nd minutes completely dominated the proceedings. Tassawar Abbas in the 14th minute and M Imran in the 38th minute also scored goals.
The second match between NBP and Navy was an exciting encounter in which the bankers exhibited excellent control on the ball and made productive moves amid accurate passes.
Tousiq Arshad made a hat-trick. He scored two goals on penalty corners in the 29th and 35th minutes and another on penalty stroke in the 61st minute. Arslan Qadir (3rd minute), Ali Shah (65th minute) and Tariq Aziz (68th minute) were the other scorers. From Navy, M Sabir scored the first goal on penalty stroke in the 15th minute and Shahbaz Ahmed in the 69th minute.
PIA and Army competed very hard in the last match of the day. Both the teams electrified the charged crowd with their aggressive demonstration of stick work which amused the spectators. However, two beautiful field goals by Shafqat Rasool helped PIA to win the match 4-3. Shafqat scored his first goal in the 11th minute while scored the second one in the 65th minute. M Zubair and Ahsanullah scored one goal apiece on the penalty corners in the 36th and 55th minuets respectively. From Army, M Kashif scored the first goal in the 25th minute followed by one goal apiece by M Imran in the 61st and Kashif in the 68th minutes respectively.
Today (Wednesday)’s fixtures: Railways vs Wapda-B at 1am and PIA vs Punjab at 3pm.  Former Olympian Shahbaz Ahmad Senior was the chief guest on the occasion and praised the efforts being made by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) for the overall uplift of the game in the country. He also appreciated the federation’s initiative to organise the 1st Brig Manzoor Hockey Tournament to help promote the game.