Daily Times

LAHORE: The 66th National Hockey Championships concluded at Rawalpindi’s MPCL Ground on November 20th. Pakistan WAPDA dethroned the reigning champions National Bank of Pakistan in the final. In the 3rd position play off, Sui Southern Gas Company defeated Pakistan Navy. These four teams had made it to the last four from a 10-team league round where all the teams played each other. The Lahore-based Dar Hockey Academy, which grooms talent scouted from all over the country, is easily the best nursery of the game in Pakistan. As in last many nationals, a number of academy boys were seen in action this year. 26 of them appeared for seven teams in this final round of the National Championships. Remarkably the Dar Academy studded teams occupied the top seven positions at the end of the league phase.

1: WAPDA: five Dar Academy players (Ajmal Butt, Waqar Younis, Sikandar, Aleem Bilal, Hammad Anjum)

2: SSGC: four players (Adeel Lateef, Adnan, Rana Sohail, Rizwan)

3: National Bank: five players (Aamir, Bilal Qadir, Abid Bhatti, Arslan Qadir, Faisal Qadir)

4: Navy: two players (Asad Aziz, Zulqarnain)

5: MPCL: seven players (Mohsin, Wasim Akram, Asif Hanif, Aqeel, Abdul Rehman, Awais Arshad & Murtaza Yaqoob)

6: PAF: one player (Ibrahim Khan)

7: Punjab: two players (Gul Sher Khan and Saad).