LAHORE : Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh, in a statement on Sunday, said that the hockey fans are fully enjoying the exciting matches of First Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Division Hockey Championship at National Hockey Stadium.
Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh said the teams from Sargodha, Lahore, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur have performed excellently in the tournament so far and are enjoying top positions at the points table. “The other teams of the province could also improve their performance and bounce back in the championship in the remaining matches,” he added.
Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh said that the top players of nine divisions of the province are demonstrating their talent during the championship. “We are quite hopeful to build strong bench strength for the national team. Our qualified coaches will further polish their skills so that these young talented players could serve the national team in the future international hockey competitions”.
The teams of Sargodha and Multan thrashed their rivals while two matches ended as draws on the 7th day of First Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Division Hockey Championship at National Hockey Stadium here on Sunday.
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It is pertinent to mention here that Sports Board Punjab is organizing the First Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Division Hockey Championship with the collaboration of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) at National Hockey Stadium.
In the first match of 7th day, Sargodha division team outplayed Rawalpindi by 5-0. Both the teams failed to score any goal in the first 26 minutes of the match despite their best efforts.
However, Sargodha’s skipper Rana Shoaib and Ibrar Arshad struck two back to back goals in the 26th and 28th minute respectively to take 2-0 lead. They added three more goals in 36th, 55th and 59th minutes of the match through Sabih ul Hasnain, Rana Shoaib and Sabeeh Raza.
Sargodha team availed two penalty corners out of four while Rawalpindi team failed to convert any of their six penalty corners.
The second match was played between Sahiwal and Bahawalpur. Sahiwal grabbed a two-goal lead in the first 18 minutes through M Ahmed and Raja Arman but Bahawalpur bounced back and struck two goals in the 24th and 30th minute through Arsal Naseer and Absar bin Rauf.
Sahiwal again attained the advantage in the 56th minute through a field goal netted by Raja Arman but Bahawalpur leveled the score in the final moments through Ali Raza’s field goal. Bahawalpur and Sahiwal got four and three penalty corners respectively.
Lahore and Faisalabad played the third match of the day which finished as 1-1 draw. Lahore’s skipper Hannan Shahid struck a field goal in 23rd minute and in response Faisalabad carved out a beautiful field move and leveled the score in 28th minute through Abdullah Siddiqui.
Multan defeated Gujranwala by 2-1 in the fourth and last match of the day. Usman Iftikhar and M Mugheera scored the two goals for Multan in 3rd and 8th minute while Saqib Ali netted the only goal for Gujranwala in the 54th minute through a penalty stroke.
Multan and Gujranwala teams got seven and four penalty corners respectively. However, Gujranwala team also grabbed a penalty stroke in the 54th minute.
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