Pakistan

Pakistan Customs stunned national champions Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) 3-2 in the quarter-final of the Governor?s Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium here on Thursday. Customs will now meet National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), who crushed Pakistan Navy in the last quarter-final 8-3, in the semi-final. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan Steel have already qualified for the last-four stage.

In their match against Customs, favourites PTCL were the victim of complacency. PTCL took Customs very lightly and paid the price. Customs, comprised of young and upcoming players, played with enthusiasm and devotion to seal the fate of their rivals.

Customs opened the account through Atif Mushtaq who converted a penalty stroke just three minutes before the lemon break. PTCL?s equalizer came in the second half through Atif Yaqoob who scored a beautiful field goal. Once again Mushtaq came to the rescue of his team through a penalty stroke to make it 2-1.

Nine minutes before the final whistle Customs went further ahead through the field goal of Mazhar Ali. One minute later PTCL reduced the margin through Shahzad Nazir. Thereafter, PTCL tried hard in the remaining minutes to stage a comeback but in vain. Customs? goalkeeper Imran Shah stood like a rock spoiled many attempts of the PTCL forwards.

NBP proved too good for Navy and thrashed them by a big margin of 8-3. At half time NBP were leading 6-0. Right out Owais Moeed was outstanding in the field. He along with skipper Muhammad Nadeem ND and Amir Saeed scored two goals each. Navy staged a late comeback by scoring three goals in the dying moments of the final session. Muhammad Imran first scored with a field effort and then off penalty corner. Muhammad Ansar scored the third goal five minutes from final whistle by converting a penalty corner.

Friday (today) is the rest day. The semi-finals will be played on Saturday (tomorrow) when PIA take on Steel in the first semi-final and Customs face NBP in the second semi-final.

Rate This Article

Select Here  5 Stars  (Best Rating)   4 Stars   3 Stars   2 Stars   1 Star  (Worst Rating)

Your opinion counts.
Rate this article or enter your comments below.