KARACHI, Nov 11: President, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and captain of the Pakistan Veterans squad Qasim Zia led from the front when he scored two of their total four goals in the festival hockey match between Pakistan Juniors and Pakistan Veterans, played at the Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP) on Tuesday night.

The match staged in place of the earlier scheduled opener in the now cancelled Pakistan and India junior Test series was won by Juniors 9-4.

Following a live concert with Waris Baig, Shahzad Roy and Salim Javed providing much entertainment to the lovers of the sport, the match itself proved to be a thrilling affair with the Juniors off to a flying start when Zaheer Ahmed (3rd min), Shahbaz (7th min) and Azlan Khan (16th min) scored to give their side a marginal lead over their rivals.

The Veterans’ first goal, scored by Qasim Zia in the 23rd minute on solo attempt brought the score to 3-1 at the end of the first 30-minute half.

That was only the beginning for the Veterans who proved that they still had a lot of hockey left in them even when faced by boys half their age. The second session saw the former stars settling down to score as many as three goals with Hasan Sardar, the best centre-forward Pakistan ever produced, getting one in too (40th min), followed by Qasim Zia converting a penalty corner to get his second (45th min) and Irfan Senior scoring a field goal (53rd min). PHF Secretary Asif Bajwa was the perfect team player, providing valuable and timely passes to his team mates.

The 4-4 score line jolted the Juniors out of their reverie when Captain Shafqat Rasool (55th min), Abdul Haseem Khan (58th min), Adeel Hussain (59th min), Rizwan (60th min), Hasan Akhtar (61st min) and Azlan Khan (63rd min) scored one after the other giving no chance to the Veterans.

But there was a sense of pride even in losing as Hanif Khan and Akhtar Rasool (who no longer fits in a kit) faced sons Azlan Khan and Hasan Akhtar while the current chief selector Hasan Sardar and the former one Islahuddin Siddiqui were proved too slow by their respective selections.