Lahore acquires Junior Hockey League title
After an outstanding performance in an eleven-day hockey gala, Lahore managed to acquire the title of the second Junior Hockey League, organized under the flag of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) at National Hockey Stadium, Lahore. The host, Lahore thrashed
Faisalabad in the final game of the event with 3-2 score.
Eight teams participated in Junior Hockey League including Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Islamabad and PHF Academy. The event was played on ‘Round Robin League System’ according to the rules of International Hockey Federation (FIH).
In the final competition between Lahore and Faisalabad, Ayub Ali of Faisalabad rendered a wonderful performance and drew first blood in the in fifth minute of the match. However, Faisalabad’s lead lasted a short time as Arslan Qureshi of Lahore tied it up
at 1-1.
Qureshi scored his goal in the 24th minute of the game. Safeer Hussain gave Lahore the lead by one goal before the end of the first half of the match. He marked a goal in the 32nd minute of the first half.
In the first ten minutes of the second half, Muhammad Sohail scored a goal and made the position of his squad quite stable. In the 63rd minute of the match, Adnan Anwar of Faisalabad cut Lahore’s lead. However, the score remained 3-2 till the
final moment.
President of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), Qasim Zia, distributed the prizes among the winners. Lahore achieved Rs 0.6 million cash award while runner up Sialkot pocketed Rs 0.4 million.
The best player of the tournament award was given to Muhammad Suleman of Sialkot. He marked fifteen goals in the tournament. Faisalabad’s Mazhar Abbas obtained best goal keeper award while Muhammad Zohaib achieved promising player of the tournament award.
Earlier, Faisalabad and Lahore marked victories in the semi-finals against Sialkot and Islamabad and qualified for the final.
In the first semi-final of Junior Super Hockey League, Lahore overpowered Sialkot with a 2-1 score. Khurram Shahzad of Sialkot accounted for the first goal of the match in the 11th minute of the game, which was answered by Mushtaq of Lahore in
the 29th minute of the match.
In the second half, Mushtaq raised his team’s chances of success with a second goal in the 68th minute of the match and upped the lead by one goal, 2-1. Sialkot started an aggressive game to tie up the match. However, the defendants of Lahore could not make
their plan successful. Mushtaq of Lahore was named as Man-of-the-Match due to his outstanding performance in the semi-final.
Islamabad was thrashed by Faisalabad in the second semi-final and lost any hope for reaching the final. Aleem Bilal of Faisalabad scored the first goal in the first minute of the match followed by Ayub Ali’s goal in the 6th minute. Aleem Bilal
marked the third goal of the game in the 13th minute while Ayub further increased Faisalabad’s lead in the 27th minute of the match.
The fifth goal of the match was also scored by Aleem Bilal in the 39th minute, which confirmed Faisalabad’s victory. Islamabad’s solitary goal was accounted for by Sheheryar in the 62nd minute of the match, which could not facilitate
the team. Aleem Bilal of Faisalabad was awarded Man-of-the-Match. He scored four goals for the winning side.
The aim of the event was to sort out the fresh talent in the field of hockey particularly preparing teams for under-18 Asia Cup and under-21 World Cup this year.
A three member committee of legendary hockey stars monitored the event to assess the talent of the fresh slot. The committee was comprised of Rana Mujahid as convener while Habib Ahmad of Karachi and Shahid Ali Khan as members of the body. They will submit
their report regarding outstanding performances of the players.
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