KARACHI: District East Colours outplayed District Malir Whites 13-2 in the final to win the Olympian Mansoor Ahmed Inter-district five-a-side hockey league at the KHA Sports Complex here on Saturday

Discarded Haseem Khan and Owais Khan were instrumental in their team’s resounding success, sharing eight goals amongst themselves, while Rizwan Khan (2), Umair Khan, Imran Khan and Irfan Tahir added one goal to the winning tally.

Zafar and Shahbaz, meanwhile, slammed one goal apiece for the losers.

Asif Raza of district Malir Whites was declared the best player of the tournament.

Besides Haseem, East Colours had the services of former Olympian goalkeeper Ahmed Alam and guest player Olympian Waqas Akbar who had specially come from Vehari in southern Punjab, to pay tribute to the deceased custodian Mansoor.

A day earlier Waqas Akbar was on a goal-scoring spree as he slammed nine goals to power District East Colours into the final while registering a 17-12 victory over District Korangi Colours in the second semi-final.

He was followed by Owais Khan (3), Rizwan Khan and Umair Khan two each and Imran Khan one.

District Korangi Colours fought courageously with Shujaat Ali stoling the limelight with half-a-dozen goals. Zubair Ahmed struck three while Hammad Mustafa, Junaid Iqbal and Sami Khan added one goal each.

The Group of Riders (TGR) headed by Mohammad Akbar Khan enthralled the spectators by taking a couple of laps on their heavy bikes outside the mini turf of the KHA Complex to pay homage to the late Olympian.

Caretaker Sindh Sports Minister Dr Syed Junaid Ali Shah, who is also the president of the Karachi Hockey Association (KHA), graced the final.

Shah was elated for following the footsteps of his late father Dr Mohammad Ali Shah who had served as Sindh Sports Minuister for four years as a parliamentarian.

“I want to do something new in a short span of time to be remembered in history,” he told reporters

The final was attended among others by Perveen Akhtar and Sumera Shahbaz, the mother and sister of the late Mansoor, alongside Asma Shah, Afshan Farooq Sattar, KHA officials Gulfraz Khan, DSP Ejazuddin, Dr Majid, Jawaid Iqbal, Abdul Azeem Khan and organising secretary Syed Haider Hussain.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2018