The Lahore region women cricket team defended its title in the National Under-19 T20 Women Cricket Championship this week, defeating the Rawalpindi region by eight wickets.

Right-arm medium fast bowler Nimra Imran led the Lahore region which earned convincing victories in all matches to annex the trophy as undefeated side of the tournament.

Interestingly, her team played six matches, including the semi-final and the final, and notched up wins by eight wickets margin in five matches. All the matches were played at the Country Club, Muridke ground. In all 12 teams participated in the championship.

On their way to the final, the Lahore region defeated Rawalpindi by nine wickets in a pool match. Then it carved out wins by an identical margin of eight wickets against Peshawar, Sialkot, Quetta, and in the semi-final against Multan, before toppling Rawalpindi in the final.

The Lahore region coach, Talat Mirza, told Dawn that convincing victories against every rival proved that his side defended its title as a true champion.

Talat says some players namely Sidra Amees, Fareeha Mehmood, Maleeha Tanveer, Maham Rafique as batswomen and captain Nimra, Asha Khan, Saba Nazir, Hafza Amjad and Zunayra Shaheen as bowlers impressed him with their talent. They played a leading role in winning the trophy.

He says although the standard of the women players is improving under professional coaches of the PCB, the players need more competitions to further groom their skills.

Currently, the women cricketers are provided with only three tournaments annually. In other countries, the women have an opportunity to take part in a good number of tournaments, and to catch up with them, more tournaments should be allocated for Pakistani players, he says.

Talat further says it is encouraging that players at this age are well aware of the rules of the game.

Earlier, the Lahore region held only a two-day training camp at the Kinnaird College ground which certainly is not enough to gel players in one-unit. At least one-week camp is necessary to hone the skill of players.

At the end of the final, PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf awarded the prizes.

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Lahore is the venue of two national events. The National Hockey Stadium has been the venue of 27th Women National Hockey Championship. The event was inaugurated by Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa. The Pakistan Hockey Federation's women cell is hosting the event. Prominent teams like Railways, Wapda, Army, Punjab, Higher Education Commission (HEC), Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa have fielded their teams.

A good number of female spectators, mainly from different colleges, are also visiting the stadium to watch the matches. The event has attracted hockey lovers, who otherwise, have faced two big jolts this week.

First, the Pakistan hockey team failed to earn any prominent position in the ongoing Champions Trophy as it is now fighting against South Korea for the 7th or the bottom 8th position. Secondly, around 12 national players are likely to join the World Hockey Series which is to start in New Delhi from Dec 17.

The PHF has warned that all rebel players will be banned. In case of a ban, the PHF will definitely face a crisis with regard to replacement of major players.

Meanwhile, Punjab Colours team captain Sidra Younis says the competition is quite tough because professional teams of Railways, Wapda and Army are strong contenders for the title. Sidra, who scored three goals to help her team crush Sindh Colours by 9-0 margin, says she is expecting at least a place in the semi-final.

Lahore is also hosting the first Quaid-i-Azam Golf Championship at the Lahore Gymkhana. The event was not included in the annual calendar of activities of the Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF), but some diehard supporters of the game decided to launch the championship to pay tribute to the father of the nation and selected Lahore as venue of the inaugural edition.

Almost all top professionals of the country like Matloob Ahmad, Shafiq Masih, Imdad Hussain and Mohammad Siddique are taking part in the championship which has offered a cash prize of Rs1 million for top 40 position holders.

Overall, 350 golfers are gathered in Lahore to compete in the different categories of professional, senior professional, amateurs, ladies, and veterans.

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Reports are that the name of former Pakistan cricket captain Aamir Sohail is being considered to have a role in the Punjab Sports Board (PSB). After joining the PML-N some months back, it was expected that the cricketer would get any role in any sports body.

At present, the post of the PSB chairman is vacant, but this position is reserved for an elected member of the provincial assembly. In the past, Olympian Akhtar Rasool has worked on this post during the Nawaz Sharif era.

It is being rumoured that Aamir Sohail may be fitted in the PSB as one of its members. The government is revamping the PSB as the existing body has completed its three years constitutional term.

Interestingly, Aamir Sohail belongs to the game of cricket which is not in the long list of the sports that come under the PSB.