9-a-Side Hockey Gold Cup begins

LAHORE: Secretary Sports Punjab Aamir Jan inaugurated 9-a-Side Shezan Hockey Gold Cup at the national Hockey Stadium on Thursday.

In his media talk on this occasion, Secretary Sports said hockey is our national game and we will utilize all our strength for its revival. “Pakistan has ruled the hockey world for a long time and with some collective efforts we will be able to formulate a strong hockey team in the near future as well”.

Aamir Jan announced to hold Under-16 Hockey Championship in all districts in near future to trace fresh talent. “We will pick 33 talented young hockey players from the championship and then they will be trained in top class academies. We are quite confident to give Pakistan hockey team sufficient back-up strength through our solid efforts,” he elaborated.

He said: “Effective school hockey is key to revival of this sport in Pakistan and we are focusing to engage all the leading schools in hockey events on regular basis”.

Aamir Jan said the event will also help in identifying new hockey talent. “Sports Board Punjab played key role for organizing multiple sports events and establishing several sports venues across the province,” he added.

The 3-day event is being organised by Lahore’s two leading hockey nurseries, Dar Hockey Academy and Rana Zaheer Academy under supervision of Pakistan Hockey Federation.The six competing teams have been named after Pakistan’s hockey greats who are no more in this world and served the game with pride and distinction. Following are the participating teams, Brig (retd) Manzoor Hussain Atif, Munir Ahmad Dar, Ch Ghulam Rasool, Tanveer Ahmad Dar, Saeed Anwar and Afzal Manna. Three matches of 35 minutes duration, comprising of two halves of 17 and half minutes each, are scheduled every day. All the six sides have senior and junior internationals in their lineups.

In the first match, Tanvir Dar team defeated Brigadier M.H. Atif team 2-0. Scorers: Awaisur Rehman and Babar Bashir. Munir Dar team defeated Afzal Manna team 1-0. Scorer was Asad. Afzal Manna team defeated Tanvir Dar team 1-0. Scorer: Zeeshan Bukhari.