LAHORE: Olympians XI edged out Pakistan Greens XI by a narrow margin of 4-3 in an exhibition Quaid-e-Azam Day hockey match at newly-laid astro-turf of National Hockey Stadium on Monday.
Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz, Caretaker Provincial Minister for Housing and Auqaf Azfar Ali Nasir and Caretaker Provincial Minister for Education Mansoor Qadir were the guests of honour.
Akhtar Rasool was the manager, Asif Bajwa was coach while Shahbaz Sr was the captain of Olympians XI. Mujahid Afzal was the skipper of Pakistan Greens XI which was managed by Habib ur Rehman. Director Youth Affairs Rana Nadeem Anjum was also part of Pakistan Greens playing XI.
Showing glimpses of their illustrious past, the Olympians struck four beautiful goals through Shafqat Malik, Shahbaz Sr, Shahid Gill and M Usman. Pakistan Greens XI also exhibited wonderful hockey but lost the match by a slim difference. Rana Waleed netted two goals while the third goal was scored by M Ammad the losing team.
Talking to media, Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz said the presence of such a large number of hockey greats at the match definitely proved to be a big inspiration for young hockey players.