LAHORE, Jan 28: Three goals by centre-forward Mohammad Zubair helped Okara thrash Toba Tek Singh 5-2 in the final of the Punjab Under-16 Inter-district hockey tournament at the National Hockey Stadium on Monday.

Earlier, Lahore defeated Sheikhupura 2-1 to claim third position. In all, 34 districts of the province took part in the competition which began Jan 19.

Zubair, the younger brother of Pakistan hockey team captain Mohammad Sarwar, was also declared Man-of-the-final and got Rs5,000. Inayatullah of Toba Tek Singh picked up Rs10,000 award for being adjudged Man-of-the-Tournament.

Okara displayed more attacking game and played with packed defence to beat a strong Toba Tek Singh convincingly. Okara also kept Inyatullah in check that helped them deny Toba Tek Singh create inroads in their area.

Okara took a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes of play when Jawwad Ali (9th minute) and Muhammad Zubair (15th minute) struck field goals.

Toba Tek Singh retaliated and restored the parity in the next six minutes through Nadeem Aslam (18th minute) and Zeeshan Akram (21st minute).

But Okara again went ahead when Zubair scored his second goal in the 28th minute to make it 3-2 which lasted till the half time.

After the resumptions, Okara forged ahead and scored two more goals through Tahir Mahmood (38th minute) and Zubair (42nd minute).

In last 10 minutes, Toba Tek Singh made some fine efforts and got four penalty-corners but failed to convert any of them.

Teams:

Okara: Shahid Iqbal (goalkeeper), Nadeem, Abdul Qadir, Shahzad Aslam, Imran Khan, Jawwad Ali, Ghulam Abbas, Mohammad Sajjad, Zubair, Hamid Khan, Iftikhar.

Toba Tek Singh: Khurram Majeed (goalkeeper), Aasim Shafi, Waqas-ul-Haq, Irfan Aslam, Zaheer Ahmed, Ibrar Husain, Naeem Abbas, Nadeem Shahid, Inayatullah, Zeeshan Akram, Oman Yasin.

Umpires: Obaid-ur-Rahman, Aamir Aslam.

A late strike by Naveed in the 55th minute helped Lahore beat Sheikhupura 2-1 in the third place play-off match. At half time, both the teams were tied at 1-1.

Waseem gave Lahore an early lead by converting the first penalty corner in the very first minute of play. Sheikhupura scored the equalizer through Ibrar Husain in the 26th minute before Waseem scored the winner.

CAMP: The following probables were picked from the championship to attend a training camp from which the Punjab team for the inter-provincial  hockey championship will be picked. The three-day tournament will be played at the National Hockey Stadium from Feb 11.

Khurram Majeed, Murid Abbas, Shakeel Ahmad, Irfan Mahmood (goalkeepers), Muhammad Asim, Kashif, Tassadiq, Shoaib Ahmed, Shakeel Ahmed, Rafaqaut Khan, Moazzam (full-backs). Najeeb Akram, Adeel Akram, Zaheer Ahmad, Mohammad Rizwan, Imran Khan, Ibrar, Aslam Shahzad, Adnan, Irfan (halves), Tajamal, Yasir Dilawar, Asim, Ali Muqaddas, Ishtiaq, Inyatullah, Javed Iqbal, Ghulam Abbas, Zubair Ahmad, Mohammad Imran, Qasim Ikram, Naseer Ahmad, Usman, Shahzad (forwards).

Coaches: Muhammad Nawaz Dogar, Shahid Mahmood Nizami. Camp-Commandant: Jalil Ahmad.