Abdul Jabbar Faisal
ISLAMABAD: Oldenzaal Hockey Club aka Billy Club of Netherlands have won the thrice match tie 2-1 after beating the hosts Higher Education Commission (HEC) hockey team on a penalty shoot-out 4-3, as the score-line was 1-1 after all 4 quarters at Nasser Bunda Hockey Stadium Islamabad on Friday.
Both teams started the match at a bit slow pace and were looking defensive, however, after a few minutes, players showed nice game skills and attacked the goalposts but could not score a goal. In the 11th minute, Mubasher scored a field goal and put the hosts in a 1-0 lead. He received the pass from the right side and diverted the ball into the goal without wasting a fraction of a second.
The HEC team upheld the lead till the end of the third quarter. However, in the 52nd minute Dutch player Niels Engberink leveled the match 1-1 after scoring a goal on a penalty corner. The scoreboard remained unchanged 1-1 till the final whistle. Each side was given 5 penalty shoot-out to get the results of the 3-match tie.
Mattis Barttelink, Ruben Kattier, and Leen Timmers scored goals for the Dutch Club while Jan Willem Wunbergen and Niels Engberink failed to score goals. Ali Murtaza and Mubasher showed excellent stick work and pushed the ball into the net but the other three lads including Ahmed Raza, Mohammad Zain, and Shaheer Ali missed the goals.
The diplomats from various countries watched the match along with Olympians, sports enthusiasts, and university students from twin cities Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Ambassador of Dutch to Pakistan, Henny de Vries, the Australian High Commissioner, Neil Hawkins, Acting Ambassador of Romania to Pakistan, Eduard-Robert Preda, Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan, Totuiaev Ulanbek Asankulovich, the High Commissioner-designate of Brunei Darussalam, Colonel (Retd) Pengiran Haji Kamal Bashah and Ambassador of Morocco to Pakistan and Dean of the African Corps Mohammed Karmoune were present on occasion.
