LAHORE (APP): Four matches were played on the ninth day of First Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Division Hockey Championship 2021 here at the National hockey stadium on Tuesday.
Director General sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh, along with Punjab Hockey Association (PHA) Secretary Lt-Col (retd) Asif Naz Khokhar, Director Sports Hafeez Bhatti, Divisional Sports Officer Multan Rana Nadeem Anjum, Divisional Sports Officer Sahiwal Tariq Nazir and other top officials also witnessed the exciting matches. DG, SBP awarded a cash prize of Rs ten thousand to Faisalabad hockey team for winning their match against Sargodha.
“All the nine divisional hockey teams have promising players and we are preparing the data of all outstanding performers of the event and top performers will be imparted further training under the supervision of qualified coaches so that they can serve the national hockey team in future national and international events in a befitting manner,” he added.
The first match of day between Sahiwal and Rawalpindi failed to produce any result as both the teams scored two goals each during the stipulated time.
Though Sahiwal team netted two back-to-back field goals in 8th and 11th minutes but they could not capitalize the advantage in the final stages of the match and Rawalpindi leveled the score with two successive goals in 49th and 57th minute. Raja Arman and Shakir Ali were the goal scorers for Sahiwal while Sikander Ali Zaki and M Suleman struck the two goals for Rawalpindi team.
Sahiwal team got four penalty corners whereas Rawalpindi team clinched a solitary penalty corner and they managed to convert it into a goal. The Lahore team toppled DG Khan by 4-0 in the second match of the day. Mohammad Rabiya of Lahore was in excellent touch scoring two field goals in 14th and 29th minute while skipper Hannan Shahid and Hasan Ameen netted the remaining two goals in the 35th and 45th minute of the one-sided match.
Faisalabad ousted Sargodha by 5-2 in the third match of the day. Rafaqat Rafiq of Sargodha scored the first goal in the 12th minute through a beautiful field move. After conceding the first goal, Faisalabad played aggressive hockey and struck five goals on the trot in 41st, 46th, 48th, 50th and 51st minutes of the match through Mohammad Said, Mohammad Usman, Mohammad Baqar, Hasan Shahbaz and Moazzam respectively.
Ibrar Arshad of Sargodha, however, reduced the margin of defeat when he converted a penalty corner in 53rd minute of the match. Both the teams grabbed two penalty corners each in the match.
The last match of the day was played between Bahawalpur and Gujranwala which ended in a 1-1 draw. The first goal of the match was scored by Mohammad Uzair of Bahawalpur in 28th minute through a penalty corner while Abdul Rehman leveled the score in 44th minute through a field goal. Bahawalpur and Gujranwala teams got five and one penalty corner respectively during the entire match time.
