KARACHI, June 3 Academy Black 'A' and Academy Orange 'B' were off to a winning start as the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Under-12 Hockey Tournament commenced at the Olympian Iftikhar Syed Sports Academy (OISSA) on Wednesday evening.

Two matches of 40-minute duration (with 20-minute halves) were played under floodlights on one-fourth (60 x 25 yards) of the freshly-laid Dessoturf ground, a size considered more suitable for the young players. The special small fibre goal post, too, measures 6ft x 4ft.

Academy Black 'A' edged past Academy Green 'A' 4-3. Ghulam Ali, Mohammad Ibrahim, Qamar Abbas and Liaquat Ali scored for the winners while Jalees Hussain, Fareed Alam and Sufiyan Shah reduced the margin for the losing side. In the second match, Academy Orange 'B' beat Academy Yellow 'A' 3-1. Salman Babar, Daniyal Waseem and Farooq Azim scored for Orange 'B' while the lone goal for Yellow 'A' was scored by Tariq Mahmood.

Earlier, the 12-team event was inaugurated by KCCA Secretary Prof Ejaz Farooqi along with PHF Chairman Selection Committee Olympian Hanif Khan. The 150 players participating in the event have been provided playing kits by OISSA while their hockey sticks are compliments of the PHF. —Agencies