LAHORE: Two-goal Mohammad Dilber enabled Pakistan to outclass South Korea 4-1 as the green-shirts recorded their first win in the four-nation Hockey Super Series in Australia on Tuesday.

According to the information released by the Pakistan Hockey Federation about the Hobart event, besides Dilber’s double strike, Mohammad Irfan and Mohammad Umar Bhutta struck one goal each.

In the next match, Pakistan face a tough challenge of New Zealand on May 7.

Earlier, Pakistan lost back-to-back matches, first to Australia 0-6 and then to Australia ‘A’ 1-3.

Pakistan captain Mohammad Imran termed the victory against Korea morale boosting before the green-shirts face New Zealand.

He said the boys played with their true potential, setting aside the back-to-back defeats. If they continue with the same rhythm, the skipper vowed, a similar victory was expected against the Kiwis.

It is relevant to mention here that the Pakistan squad barely made it to Australia for the four-nation contest, owing to acute shortage of funds the PHF has faced in recent times.

Given the tour was important for the players to get practice before the national team was picked for the Olympic qualifiers to be held in Belgium in July, the PHF managed to send the team on the tour.

Some funds for the tour were arranged through borrowed money while the rest were given by the Punjab Sports Board.

Financial position of the PHF, the custodian of the national sport, has fallen to alarming level with the cash-strapped federation requiring as much as Rs300 million to field the team in the Olympic qualifier. So far, its requirements in this regard have not been met.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2015

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