Senior Inter-District Hockey C’ship, http://pakobserver.net/

Peshawar upset Bannu to win title

Peshawar—One goal each by right winger Said Shah and left wingerZeeshan guided team to a stunning 2-1 victory against strong Bannu inthe final of the Senior Inter-District Hockey Championship played hereat Lala Ayub Hockey Stadium on Sunday.

Group Captain Farooq Ahmad, Director Sports PAF Control Board, was thechief guest on this occasion. Before the start of the final the playerswere introduced to him. Chairman Pakistan Hockey Federation CompetitionCommittee and Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hockey Association SyedZahir Shah and large number of game spectators were also present.

The final was started on slow pace but soon it took momentum when Bannufirst taken the penalty corner through a fine move made by right wingerShafiullah. Shafiullah along with Ijaz Khan traveled past threedefenders and zoomed quickly. Safiullah did a fine strike on the rivalgoal-post but it was padded well be Peshawar goal-keeper Afsar Ali. Andon the rise-ball, umpire signaled penalty corner in Bannu favour.Pakistan’s ex-full-back Ihsan taken it nicely but again Afsar rescuedhis team with a spectacular save.

In the 14th minute Bannu tookthe lead when full-back Ihsan dragged push went straight into thegoal-post on a penalty corner conversion. After taking lead, Bannu putin more pressure to double the lead but they were failed because of thetight marking of Peshawar defence.

It was in the 27th minutewhen right winger Said Shah, who also delighted the sitting spectatorswith his run down the flank, dodged three defenders and netted a finegoal to level the tally 1-1. At half-time both the teams were locked1-1.

After the resumption of the second-half Peshawar withbetter strategy had succeeded in get the position of the ball by makinggood attacks as result it was in the 47th minute when left wingerZeeshan Ahmad traveled past two defenders at the center line and zoomedin quickly by netting a fine goal to make the tally 2-1.

Bannuteam also kept up pressure and even got four consecutive penaltycorners in the dying moments but none of them could be utilized due topoor handling. Thus Peshawar won the match by 2-1.

The matchwas supervised by Ashaq Hussain and Hidayatullah Khan while Tehsinullahand Master Khan and Bakhtiar acted as field judges.

At the end,the chief guest gave way trophies and cash prizes. The winner wasawarded Rs. 25,000/- while the runner-up got Rs. 15000/- as cashprizes.—APP