ISLAMABAD, OCT 10: Islamabad and Lahore outclassed Multan and Hazara in the first leg of pool round of Divisional National Basketball Championship Grade A organized by Pakistan Basketball Federation here at Sargodha.

According to Federal Basketball Association General Secretary Ouj E Zahoor, as many as eight top teams including Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, Hazara in pool A and Faisalabad, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Sargodha in pool B are taking part in national championship.

Islamabad who won the national divisional grade B championship to qualify for grade A earlier this year performed wonderfully in first match against strong Multan and won the match in the last quarter of the match scoring with 66 -59 points.

Some outstanding moves made it possible for Islamabad to make comeback during the 4th quarter after covering a lead of 13 points. Farhan Qayyum played an exceptional game scored 21 along with Rizwan Khurshid and Muhammad Rameez who scored 16 and 12 respectively.

Islamabad team comprising Rizwan Khurshid (Captain), Farhan Qayyum, Ali Kazmi, Jarri Abbas Bangash, Bakhtawar Taimoor, Muhammad Rameez, Faiz Kayani, Abdul Wahid, Salman Saeed, Yasir Abbas, Abdul Wahab, Ahmed Waleed, Raheel Bhatti while Umer Mahmood (coach) and Yasir Ghafoor (assistant coach)

In other matches on day one Lahore defeated Hazara by 72-56, Faisalabad defeated Peshawar by 68 -64, and Gujranwala defeated Sargodha by 72-63.
This event is one of the series of several events that Pakistan Basketball Federation has planned to revive the game in the country.