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| February 4, 2003 | Tuesday | Zul Hijjah 2,1423 |
Usman helps Toba Tek Singh lift trophy
Toba Tek Singh 4 Okara 2
Lahore 2 Faisalabad 1
LAHORE, Feb 3: Two goals by Mohammad Usman and Inayatullah in the closing moments of play, enabled Toba Tek Singh to dethrone reigning champions Okara 4-2 in the final of the fourth Punjab Under-16 Inter-District hockey championship at the National Hockey Stadium on Monday.
T.T Singh were leading 2-0 but Okara levelled the score 2-2 before the end of the first half.
The match was heading into extra time, before Usman and Inayat slammed in the winning goals for the new champions three minutes before end of play.
The winning side besides a cup also received a cash prize of Rs 50,000. Okara got a purse of Rs 40,000.
Lahore beat Faisalabad 2-0 to take third position and earned a prize of Rs 30,000. Faisalabad also pocketed Rs 20,000.
Inayatullah of T.T Singh was declared man-of-the- tournament, and honoured with a prize of Rs 20,000. Okara’s Muhammad Zubair, younger brother of Pakistan team captain, Muhammad Sarwar, was declared man-of-the-final and also awarded Rs 10,000.
In what was a thrilling final, Toba Tek Singh’s made some impressive attacks with accurate passing on both flanks.
The winners also engaged in some foul play for which Talib, Shahbaz and Abrar Hussain were shown green cards. Abrar was also shown yellow card in the 30th minute.
T.T Singh protested against Zubair’s goal in the 32nd minute when he converted a penalty-corner.
Play had to be stopped as Toba TeK Singh claimed that umpire Munawar had awarded the goal to Okara which in their opinion should have been declared high and dangerous.
Munawar, contended that the hit in question had touched the hockey-stick of a defender, before striking the cage, a decision upheld by the second International umpire of the final Khalid Iqbal.
T.T Singh started the match at a brisk pace taking a 2-0 lead by the 11th minute. Usman banged home his first goal in the 9th minute, while Zeeshan Akram doubled it within two minutes, both on field attempts.
Okara, made a concerted effort to get back in the game with the result that Tafseer-ul-Hafeez slammed in a goal in the the 16th minute converting the second short corner before Zubair restored the parity in the 32nd minute on the seventh penalty corner.
In the second half, winners surged ahead with a superb goal, from Usman in the 67th minute.
Usman displaying brilliant stick work , picked the ball from the 25-yard line dodging no less then six Okara’s players before
passing it through the goalkeeper’s pads into the net.
Inayatullah scored a field goal in similar fashion in the last minute of play to complete the tally.
Earlier, Lahore took the lead first against Faisalabad in the 5th minute through Shahzad Ali Nasir. Lahore doubled the lead in the 20th minute when Junaid Riaz struck a goal. Faisalabad scored the solitary goal after half time through a field goal by Qasim in the 53rd minute.
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