LAHORE: United Women Hockey Academy (UWHA) clinched the fifth edition of Chief Minister Women Gold Cup hockey tournament beating Punjab Whites 2-0 in the final here at the National Hockey Stadium on Wednesday.

With the victory the Academy also avenged their solitary defeat in the league-stage match when Punjab Whites had beaten them by the same 2-0 margin.

Aqeela Nasim converted the second penalty-corner with a carpet shot in the 10th minute to give UWHA lead. The lead was doubled in the 19th through Afsheen Naureen.

While trailing 0-2, Punjab Whites -- the unbeaten side of the league stage which had not conceded any goal — tried hard to recover and in the process earned as many as 10 penalty corners but could not convert any of them.

Earlier, in the third-position match, Islamabad sprang a surprise as they outplayed Punjab Colours 3-0. Saba, Saira Cheema and Sahil Malik scored the goals.

Individual awards were given to the players of different competing teams at the end of matches. Sports Minister Jahangir Khanzada distributed the prizes.

Maira Sabir of UWHA and Punjab Whites’ Hamra Latif were named joint winners of the best player award. The top scorer award went to Ishrat Abbas of Punjab Whites.

UWHA’s Saba (best goalkeeper), UWHA’s Kulsoom Munir (best defender), Punjab Whites’ Amna Ghaffar (best forward), Sindh’s Aqsa Idrees Mughal (best emerging player) and Balochistan’s Rukhsar (most promising young player) were also among the award winners.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2017