Sports Reporter
LAHORE (October 18, 2021):-The women hockey teams of Punjab (C), Wapda, Army and Railways toppled their respective opponent teams in the quarterfinals to book a place in the semifinals of First Chief Minister Punjab 5-a-Side National Women Hockey Championship at National Hockey Stadium on Monday.
The first semifinal of First Chief Minister Punjab 5-a-Side National Women Hockey Championship will be played between Wapda and Railways women hockey teams at 6.00pm while Punjab (C) and Army will lock horns in the second semifinal at 7.00pm at the same venue.
Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh who was the chief guest at the quarterfinals, watched the thrilling quarterfinal encounters at National Hockey Stadium. Director Sports Hafeez Bhatti, PHF Women Hockey Wing General Manager Ms Tanzeela Amir Cheema, Deputy Director Rauf Bajwa and Deputy Director Chand Perveen were also present on this occasion.
It is worth-mentioning that Sports Board Punjab is organising the First Chief Minister Punjab 5-a-Side National Women Hockey Championship for the preparation of inaugural FIH Hockey 5s World Cup scheduled to be staged in Oman’s capital city, Muscat.
Wapda female players edged out strong HEC team by a narrow margin of 3-2 in the first quarterfinal after a close competition. Wapda’s Hamra Latif exhibited a glorious game and scored two goals through her field effort in the first and 12th minute of the match. Maira Sabir netted the third goal for the winning team. Kalsoom scored two goals for HEC to reduce the deficit. She leveled the score twice in 2nd and 11th minute but failed to do so third time and lost the match by 3-2.
The second quarterfinal match was played between Islamabad and Railways women hockey teams. Railways women hockey team showing great resolve toppled Islamabad by 4-1 without much trouble. Arzoo Mansoor struck two goals while skipper Mariyam Hanif and Sarika Sarwar shared the remaining two goals. Islamabad’s only goal was netted by Fozia Talib in the 6th minute through a beautiful field move.
Punjab (C) defeated Punjab (W) by a big difference of 7-1 in the third quarterfinal match of the day. Until half-time, they had a 5-0 lead. Sidra Hakim did the major damage scoring three beautiful goals for the winning team. The remaining four goals were scored by Mariam Hussain, Aqsa Ajaz, Saira Murad and Mahak Rasheed. Punjab (W)’s only goal was made by Amara Murad in the 19th minute of the match.
The 4th and last quarterfinal of the day was competed between Army and Sindh (W) female hockey teams. The Army team proved too strong for Sindh (W) and won their match quite comfortably by 3-0 margin. Adeeba Afzal, Asma and Iqra Iqbal struck the goals for the victorious team.
