KARACHI: Olympian Manzoor Hussain Jr 5’s annexed the Essa Lab Quaid-i-Azam five-a-side under-19 hockey tournament by getting the better of Shahbaz Ahmed Sr 5’s 6-4 in the final at the Islahuddin-Dr M. A. Shah Academy on Tuesday.

Rehan Butt starred for the winners slamming four goal in the first, fifth 30th and 38th minutes while Abid Bhatti and Ilyas scored one goal apiece in the 12th and 14th minures respectively.

Junaid Rasool seventh, Mohammad Umer 22nd, Rana Waheed 35th and Mohammad Yasir 36th netted once for the losers.

Roman Khan of Akhtar Rasool 5’s earned Best Player of the Tournament award.

The president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, who graced the final under floodlit, gave away the prizes.

Also present on the occasion among others were PHF secretary Shahbaz Ahmed, Dr Farhan Essa, former Olympians Islahuddin Siddiqui, Hasan Sardar and president of the Karachi Hockey Association (KHA) Dr Junaid Ali Shah.

Earlier, Islahuddin Siddiqui 5’s carved out a nail-biting 6-5 victory over Akhtar Rasool 5’s in the playoff to seize third position.

Essa Khan opened the account for the winners in the 11th minute after Mohsin Khan had struck back-to-back goals in the sixth and 10th for the losers.

Goal-scoring spree ensued as the two teams chipped in eight go als, five by the winners and three by the losers.

Owais Khan drew level for Islah 5’s in 22nd minute as Mohib Khan scored in 23rd, Arsalan Hyder 24th and 34th and Mohammad Saqla in 28th minutes.

Roman struck thrice in a short span of seven minutes – 28th, 34th and 35th minutes to reduce the deficit for the losers.

Hasan Sardar 5’s had to be content with fifth position by getting the better of Shahnaz Sheikh 5’s 10-4 in the classification match to decide last two placings.

Waqas hammered five goals and was followed by Abdullah four and Anis one for the winners. M. Abid (2), Ahmer Ali and Ali Anwer one each, were the scorers for the losers.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2017