Pakistan hockey squad reaches Australia

LAHORE: After winning the five-match test series in New Zealand 2-1, Pakistan’s hockey squad has arrived in Australia for a four-test rubber, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) announced on Saturday.

According to the information released by the PHF, the tests in Australia are scheduled to be staged at the Marrara Hockey Centre in Darwin on March 28, 29, 31 and April 1.

Australian coach Colin Batch remains optimistic about the home team’s show in the Pakistan series.

“I believe the team we have selected will be able to show Darwin just why they are ranked No.1 in the world when they take on Pakistan in the four tests.”

In New Zealand, 14th ranked-Pakistan came from behind to win the series against 8th-ranked hosts 2-1 as two matches ended in stalemate.

Debutants Abu Bakr, Atif Mushtaq, Tazeemul Hassan and Umair Sarfraz — despite playing out of Pakistan for the first time — displayed impressive show in New Zealand.

It is noteworthy that the abovementioned players have replaced senior campaigners like Fareed Ahmed, Rizwan Senior, Rashid, Mohammad Irfan Senior and Tauseeq.

Abu Bakr, from among the newcomers, emerged as a surprise package. In his very first outing, he converted a penalty corner in the second New Zealand test. The next test proved the turning point in the series and Abu Bakr was Pakistan’s hero with a hat-trick off penalty corner goals.

Skipper Haseem Khan produced a distinguished performance scoring a number of crucial goals particularly in the latter part of the series. Goalkeeper Amjad also performed outstandingly.—Sports Reporter

Amin, Zubair, Raza and Ali triumph in juniors tennis

KARACHI: Amin Shafi, Raza Sawani, Zubair Raja and Sahibzada Ali beat their respective rivals in the Under-18 quarter-finals to advance in the McDonald’s National Junior Tennis Championship here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Saturday.

In the under-16 quarter-finals, Mujahidullah Khattak and Noor-e-Mustafa triumphed.

In the Under-12 girls competition, Zoha Noman, Varisha Khan, Sabrina Khan and Aamen Haris outplayed their rivals.—Agencies

Results:

Under-18 Juniors (Quarter-finals): Amin Shafi bt Noor-e-Mustafa 2-6-6-2,6-4; Raza Sawani bt Mazher Hayatt 6-0,6-1; Zubair Raja bt Parbat Kumar 6-4,7-5 Sahebzada Ali bt Bilal Imran Lohya 6-0 2-0 (rtd)

Under 16 (Quarter-finals): Mujadullah Kahttak bt Rayyan Jawwad 6-3, 4-6.10-6; Zubair Raja bt Muhammad Dada 6-3,6-2; Noor-e-Mustafa bt Aashish Kumder 7-5,6-2; Amin Shafi bt Asad Bachani 6-0,6-0

Under 14 (Pre Quarter-finals): Rahim Shahid w/o Mohd Ali; Yahya Ehtiashim bt Asim Gul 6-3,6-3; Farooq Atiq bt Mohd Ali Murtafa 6-1,6-0; Aashish Kumar bt Hani Mohsin 6-1,6-0U 12 Girls: Zoha Noman bt Rida Syed 6-1, 6-2; Varisha Khan bt Easal Khan 6-2,6-0; Sabrina Khan bt Eashal ehean 7-5,6-3; Syed Emman Shujat bt Aamen Haris 3-6,6-4,11-9

U-10 (Pre Quarter-finals): Zain Ali bt Huzaifa Saeed 4-0,4-2; Uzair Abbas bt Maose Akhund 4-0,4-0; Hassan Jamal bt Danial Paracha 4-2,4-3,10-4; Abdullah Imran bt Hamza Lari 2-4,4-0,10.5; Nadir Mirza bt Abdullah PIrzada 4-0,4-0.—Agencies

Weightlifting event starts next month

LAHORE: The 62nd National Men’s Weightlifting Championships will be held at the Railways Stadium here on April 12 and 13.

The departmental teams of Army, Wapda, Police, Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the hosts Pakistan Railways along with four provincial teams will take part in the event.

The performance of Mohammad Nooh Dastgir Butt in the 105kg will be a treat to watch since he is emerging Pakistan’s top weightlifter who has won three gold medals in the Asian Youth Championship held in Doha, Commonwealth Junior and Youth Championship both held in 2015 apart from being a gold medalist in the South Asian Games held in India in 2016.

Nooh’s close competitor is Mohammad Abdull Butt of the HEC in the same class who is also a promising youngster and has impressed by lifting a grand total of 385kg in the same class on March 22 this year in the inter-varsity championships.—Sports Reporter

Bakhtiar, Shahmeer guide Alphas Club to victory

KARACHI: Bakhtiar and Shahmeer guided Alphas Club to 53-32 to victory over One Unit Club in the Pakistan Day basketball tournament at the Arambagh floodlit court on Friday evening.

The winners led 23-14 at half time.

Bakhtiar top scored with a tally of 18 points and was followed by Shahmeer who contributed 14.

Kashif and Talal also finished in double figures scoring 14 and 10 respectively for the losers.

Earlier in the opening match, Haleem Hot Boys Club cruised to 50-36 victory over Malir Trojans after leading 30-19 at breather.

Ammar and Anas shone for the winners with 14 and 11 points respectively while Imran and Faraz finished with 12 and 11 respectively for the losers. Half-a-dozen teams are competing in the event on single league basis.

Meanwhile, Karachi chalked up 41-28 victory over Hyderabad in a men’s exhibition match that marked the inauguration of the event.— Sports Correspondent

PRU office-bearers elected

LAHORE: Chaudhry Arif Saeed and Khurram Khawaja were elected unopposed president and secretary of the Pakistan Rugby Union (PRU) respectively while Fawzi Khawaja was elected as chairman for the next four-year term on Saturday.

The general council meeting of the PRU was held here to elect the new office-bearers in line with the new sports policy.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2017