PIA, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Army qualified for the semi finals of NBP Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, here at National Hockey Stadium on Sunday. Due to the heavy fog, fourth quarterfinal could not be played on Sunday and it will now be staged between Habib Bank and Port Qasim on Monday at 12pm.
Both semi finals will be played on 30th December, while final will be staged on 31st December. Center Forward Inayatullah of PIA scored the first hat trick of the tournament. PIA beat Pakistan Steel Mills by 4-1. At half time the score was 3-0. Inayatullah of PIA scored three goals in 18th, 26th and 46th minutes, while Shafqat Rasool scored one goal in 12th minute. Captain Sarfraz Ahmad scored the only goal for Pakistan Steel Mills in 44th minute.
In another quarterfinal, NBP beat Navy by 5-2. At the end of the first half, the score was 4-1. Tariq Aziz, Akhtar Ali, Haseem Khan, Adnan Maqsood and Muhammad Attique scored one goal each in 5th, 10th, 24th (pc), 33rd and 67th (pc) minutes respectively. Abdul Manan and Rao Nadeem scored one goal each from Navy in 14th and 64th minutes respectively.
In another match, Army beat Wapda by 4-1. At the end of the first half the score was 1-0 in favour of Army. Akhtar Gul, Muhammad Arshad, Kashif and Muhammad Afzal scored one goal each in 25th, 54th (pc), 57th and 70 minutes respectively. The only goal scored from Wapda by Captain Waqas Sharif in 60th minute.
Moreover, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has changed the schedule of trials of PHF Hockey Academies in Punjab due to the heavy fog. According to the new schedule the trials will be held in Lahore instead of Bahawalpur on 1st January. The coaches are Qasim Khan (Police), Rana Muhammad Zaheer (Lahore) and Mujahid Afzal (ABL).
The trials will be held in Faisalabad instead of Lahore on 2nd January. The coaches are Shahzad Chishty (Faisalabad), Rana Khalid Iqbal (Faisalabad) and Almas Siddiqui (Faisalabad).
The trials will be held in Gojra instead of Faisalabad on 3rd January. The coaches are M. Aslam Roda (Gojra), Khawar Javed (NBP) and Muhammad Arshad (Police).
The trials will be held in Sialkot on 5th January. The coaches are Ajmal Khan (UBL), Tariq Sheikh (NBP) and Sabir Ali (Sialkot).
The dates of the trials in Bahawalpur will be announced later. The selection committee of Bahawalpur is Hidayat Ullah (PIA), Muhammad Arshad (Wapda) and M. Taimur (Bahawalpur).
Selection committee of the Punjab along with concerned coaches of their respective cities will observe the trials. Selection Committee of the Punjab is comprised of Anjum Saeed (Chairman), Shabir Ahmad, Akhlaq Ahmad, Gulraiz Sheikh and Khalid Rasool.
Further, PHF Umpires Refresher Course will be starting from today (Monday) at National Hockey Stadium Lahore.
International umpire Rashid Butt will be the course conductor, while Faiz Muhammad Faizi will assist him in three days course. PHF has already announced the 30 participants including 9 female umpires to attend the course. The participants are Zulfiqar Haider Shah, Rana Liaqat, Asif Mehmood, Haider Rasool, Mohsin Ali Khan, Ihsan Babar, Anwar Hussain, Kamran Hussain, Mubarik Ali, Munawar, Hanif Uddin, Mussadiq, Mian Ubaid, Mushtaq Ahmad, Muhammad Parvez, Asghar, Mushtaq Muhammad, Muhammad Afzal, Shakeel Ahmad, Nadeem, Musleh Uddin, Saima Afzal, Faiza Batool, Humaira Latif, Beenish Hayyat, Sana Hanfi, Azra Nasir, Kanwal Aslam, Shahina Yaqoob and Aqeela Naseem.