Islamabad’s Ejaz scored OGDCL 5-A side tournament’s first hat trick

Lahore: 5-A side hockey has been played at the international level mainly in the youth tournaments. Hockey at both the Youth Olympics edition held so far in 2010 and 2014 was played on this format.                                 

Presently, FIH has recognized it as a tool to popularize the game further around the world and wants it to be played by all age groups.

The first OGDCL 5-A side floodlight tournament which pushed off at Lahore’s National Stadium on the Saturday night is the first mega event of this version in Pakistan. The GOC 11 Div Major General Fida Malik was the chief guest. A number of Pakistani hockey greats of yester years were also in attendance.

The three 36 minute matches saw all the six competing sides in action on the first night.  Very fast paced and end to end stuff was witnessed most of the time. The swift turn overs made the spectators move their heads from one side to the other like that in a rally of a tennis match. The goal keepers remained busy as there were numerous attempts and resultantly a lot of goals.

Ist Match: Islamabad Fighters 10    Peshawar Panthers: 7

On paper, Islamabad appeared a stronger outfit with a number of current Pakistan stars playing for them. The capital outfit included Rizwan Sr and Rashid who had assisted Oranje Zwart to win the Dutch league this season. They also have in their ranks Imran Butt, Pakistan’s current goal keeper Butt and Arslan Qadir, who top scored for Pakistan in their last two international outings. But the youthful Peshawar side gave them a run for their money. They were never out of the game and fought well throughout.

Islamabad’s Ejaz, who debuted for Pakistan at the recent Azlan Shah Cup, scored tournament’s first hat trick.

Man of Match: Rizwan Senior.

Scorers: Islamabad Fighters: Ejaz Ahmed 3, Rashid Mahmood 2, Rizwan Sr 1, Arslan Qadir 1, Faisal Qadir 1, Awaisur Rehman 1, Rizwan Ali 1                                                                                                                   Peshawar Panthers: Adeel Latif 2, Samiullah Khan 2, Khairullah 2 and M.Adnan 1