LAHORE: Lahore Lions successfully defended their Women’s Hockey Super League title after edging out Peshawar Deers 1-0 in the final here at the National Hockey Stadium on Sunday.

Areeba Sarwar netted the only, yet the most crucial goal of the tournament following a tentative show by both sides in the opening quarter of the match on a cold and damp day in the provincial capital.

The second quarter, however, was a whole different story, with both outfits displaying some fine moves as the match swung from one end of the turf to the other until Areeba scored what eventually proved to the winner for the defending champions in the 24th minute.

After three touches following a penalty corner, the ball reached Areeba, who was positioned close to the goal and brilliantly dived to flick the ball into the net. The goal could have been a mere equaliser had the Deers cashed onto a penalty corner they were awarded earlier.

The fast-paced nature of the game did not change till the hooter sounded for the last time with both open chances and penalty corners coming for both sides with Lahore earning six penalty corners and Peshawar getting four of them.

Earlier, in the third position play-off, Karachi Dolphins, riding on Tehmina Mustafa’s hat-trick, defeated Quetta Panthers 6-3 in a high scoring encounter.

Mahnoor, Iqra Iqbal & Zarah were the other scorers for the Dolphins. For Quetta, Iqra Hanif, Kulsoom Shahzadi & Momal scored the goals.

Secretary Pakistan Hockey Federation Shahbaz Ahmad Senior presented the trophy to the winners who were also awarded with a Rs100,000 prize while the Peshawar side earned Rs75,000.

Karachi, Quetta and Islamabad Shaheens received Rs50,000 each while player of the tournament Shahrika Sarwar of Lahore, highest goal-scorer Tehmina and the tournament’s best goalkeeper Rushna Khan, also of Lahore, got a Rs10,000 reward each.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2018