Daily Times

LAHORE: Lahore Lions were the proud winners of the inaugural Pakistan Women’s Hockey League on Wednesday. They defeated Quetta Panthers 2-0 in the final at the National Hockey Stadium Lahore here. Ishrat Abbas scored both the goals off penalty corners. Jahangir Khanzada, the Punjab Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports, was the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony. Best player of tournament was won by Nafeesa Anwar (Quetta Panthers), the best goalkeeper went to Saeeda Rahmat (Karachi Dolphins) while the top scorer was Ishrat Abbas (Lahore Lions).

The final’s result was no surprise. Lahore had scored the highest number of goals in the league phase; hadn’t conceded a single goal. They had comprehensively defeated all the opponents during the league phase including the finalists Quetta. Quetta did put up some fight in the first half though Lahore’s superiority was never in doubt. They created more chances including penalty corners but poor finishing let them down. Quetta too had PCs. It was goalless at the end of the first 30 minutes. The second half was more one sided. Lahore entered Quetta’s circle almost at will and no less than seven penalty corners came their way. Two of them were converted by Ishrat Abbas, both through forceful carpet shots.

Earlier, Karachi Dolphins defeated Islamabad Shaheens for the third position classification match. It was 0-0 after the 60 minute game. The match went to penalty shoot out. Karachi won in the shoot out. Islamabad had upper hand in terms of possession and chances but the Karachi defence stood well where the goalkeeper Sadia Rahmat stood out. In the penalty shoot out, both the teams were successful in two of the five shoot outs. Even the next round of five shoot outs resulted in a 1-1 deadlock. Finally, the shoot out went into sudden death. Off the first, Karachi’s Tehmina put it in while their goal keeper Sadia saved Islamabad’s attempt enabling her team finish at third place.