Punjab National Sports Festival 2015 spread happiness among the spectators at National Hockey

Lahore: Punjab men and women hockey teams thrashed their respective rivals to bag hockey titles on rain-hit Saturday, the penultimate day of Punjab National Sports Festival 2015 at National Hockey Stadium. Director General Sports Punjab Usman Anwar was chief guest on this occasion.

Rain spoiled some of the sporting activities in the grand Punjab National Sports Festival on Saturday which is being held alongside National Horse and Cattle Show and with the collaboration of Sports Board Punjab (SBP).

Punjab women hockey team crushed Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) side by 9-0 in the lopsided final here at National Hockey Stadium. Punjab girls showed their hockey prowess and possessed the ball almost all the time throughout the final match. The KPK girls simply failed to offer any degree of resistance against their strong opponents. Ishrat struck three goals, Tehmeena made two while Kalsoom, Qura tu Ain, Rimsha and Uzma Nawaz contributed one goal each for the winning team.

Punjab also won the men’s hockey final defeating Khyber Pakhtunkhawa 4-2 on penalty shootouts at the same venue. Both the teams failed to score any goal in the stipulated time. Haseeb, Shan Irshad, Abid Bhatti and Abid Hussain converted goals for Punjab while M Hussain and Sami Siddiq sent the ball into goalpost for KPK.

Punjab male athletes continued their dominating performance and won the four titles out of six at Punjab Stadium on Saturday. Raza Ali of Balochistan emerged winner among six contestants in the Men’s 100m race, the opening contest of the day. Shahzaib Khan of Sindh and Hafiz Shahbaz from Punjab finished second and third respectively.

The High Jump title went to Punjab’s M Umer while second and third places were grabbed by KPK’s Abid and Fata’s Adnan. The 800m race was won by Punjab’s Samiullah after a close contest with Raza Ali of Balochistan. Samiullah covered the distance in 2.03.41 time while Raza consumed 2.03.78 to reach his destination. Amir Junaid Shah of KPK, with the timing of 2.04.00, finished third in the competition. Aleem ur Rehman gave Punjab its third title triumph when he pocketed the Discus Throw crown with the distance of 35.12. The next two positions went to Khuzraam of Fata (34.87) and Azhar Fareed (30.83) respectively.

The 4x100m Relay race was clinched by Sindh team comprising M Muheed, M Arif, Shahzaib Khan and Fida Hussain. Punjab and Fata got second and third position respectively. Punjab athletes demonstrated fine sprinting qualities when they outpaced KPK runners in title race of 4x400m Relay. Punjab team was consisted of M Bilal, M Shafeeq, Farhan Ilyas and M Nasir, covered their distance in 3.27.72. KPK with 3.53.72 and Fata with the time of 4.00.40 remained second and third respectively.

The female athletes of Punjab followed their male counterparts by winning three titles out of fiveon Saturday. Punjab’s Aneela annexed the 800m race title. Reena Adam of Sindh and Naila Bano of Islamabad finished second and third respectively. Naila Bano of Islamabad made the biggest leap in the High Jump contest. The second and third places were taken by Rubab of Punjab and Zara of Sindh.

The Discus Throw contest was clinched by Sindh’s Sana while Punjab’s Fatima and Hina of Islamabad got second and third spots. The 100m distinction was taken by Punjab’s Sahab Asra. The next two positions went to Hibba Khursheed of Sindh and Sheeren Kareem of Gilgit Baltistan. 4x400m Relay race, which was last event in women athletics, was won by Punjab. Sindh girls remained runner up followed by Islamabad in this contest.

Punjab football team thrashed Gilgit Baltistan by 3-0 in a one-sided affair and booked a place in the final of the event. Punjab will face KPK in the title clash while the 3^rd/4^th place play off will be contested by Sindh and Fata football teams. Umar Hayat played major role in his team’s victory by sending the ball twice in the opponents’ goalpost. The third goal was carved out by Ali through his field efforts. Punjab team completed a comfortable triumph in the morning session before the rain interruption.

Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) toppled strong Islamabad team by 4-0 in the second match of the day. The KPK players kept their opponents under pressure all the time through some marvelous moves and attacks. Sohail Khan struck two beautiful goals while the remaining two goals were shared by Umair and Zubair.

Fata and Azad Kashmir played a goal-less draw in the third match of the day. Both the teams tried their best but failed to produce any goal despite some effective moves.

In the Women Kabaddi event, Pakistan Green offered excellent performance and defeated Pakistan White by 27-18. Neelum Riaz, Sehrish and Madeeha Lateef remained prominent performers for their respective teams. On Men’s side, Pakistan White were declared winners by 25-21 after a nail-biting contest against Pakistan Green.

The rain also played havoc with all three cricket matches and the officials were forced to share the points among competing teams after complete washouts.

Director General Sports Punjab Usman Anwar has congratulated the national cricket team on their much-wanted and morale-boosting victory against strong South African cricket team in an important match of on-going Cricket World Cup.

DG SBP Usman Anwar gave his laudatory message while talking to media prior to the women hockey title clash between Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa at National Hockey Stadium hereon Saturday.

DG SBP said entire nation deserved congratulation on this vital triumph but Pakistan team needs to show consistency in their performance in the next key encounters of the World Cup. “We expect from our team to maintain their level of performance and build on this great success in the remaining part of the showpiece event,” he added.

Answering a query regarding players’ marvelous enthusiasm in the Punjab National Sports Festival despite persistent rain, DG SBP said that the growing passions of players and fans reflected their love and devotion for sports. “The sporting activities remain continue across the world in all weather conditions. These should not be affected due to rain or things like that,” he stressed.

He said that the talented youth are showing great amount of spirit and wonderful performances during the ongoing Punjab National Sports Festival 2015, he expressed these views

DG SBP Usman Anwar, who was the chief guest on this occasion, said that the on-going festival was a nice opportunity for the potential youngsters and they were availing it fully through their outstanding performances. “The Punjab National Sports Festival will help to a great extent in promotion of sports in the other provinces as well. It’s one of the basic purposes to invite the athletes from remote areas like Gilgit Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa to show their potential at a national level extravaganza,” he stated.

To a question, Usman Anwar replied: “Sports Board Punjab not only providing top class facilities to all athletes but also encouraging the talented athletes completely and we are quite upbeat that we will find world class charges from among the young lot of players. The young athletes are an invaluable asset for the country and we will continue to provide such opportunities to our young and potential players,” he explained.