Mari Petroleum Company Limited, Navy, WAPDA, Pakistan Air Force claim victories
Abdul Jabbar Faisal
RAWALPINDI: Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL), Pakistan Navy, Pakistan WAPDA, and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) posted victories in the 2nd Mari Petroleum Azadi Cup Hockey Tournament 2023 after beating their respective opponents at Lt General Retired Ashfaq Nadeem Hockey Stadium Ayub Park Rawalpindi on Tuesday. It is pertinent to mention here that the tournament is being organized by Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) under the banner Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).
In the first match of the day-1, host team Mari Petroleum outclassed Pakistan Police 5-1. Arbaaz Ahmed of Mari Petroleum scored 3 goals in a row on the penalty corner to score the first hat-trick of the tournament. Afraz Khan played an important role in his team's victory by scoring 2 goals. Qayyum Dogar could score a solitary goal for Police. Haroon Rasheed and Asad Abbas performed the duties of umpires while Ameer Hamza was the reserve umpire. Technical officials Murtaza Bhatti along with Yasir Lodhi and Tariq Butt performed the responsibilities of the judges.
Meanwhile, in the second fixture, Pakistan Navy thrashed Army Whites by 5-1 in a single-sided affair. Basharat, Ehsanullah Khan, Mohammad Sabir, Hamad Ali, Rana Waleed scored one goal each from Pakistan Navy while Zul Noreen scored the only goal for Army White. Umpires’ duties were performed by Irfan Tahir and Fahad Ali Khan while Asad Abbas was the reserve umpire. Technical officials were Akhtar Ali along with Yasir Lodhi and Asif Shahzad acted as judges.
In the penultimate fixture of the day, Pakistan WAPDA overcame Army Colour 1-0 in a nail-and-bite competition, thanks to a penalty corner goal by Panchwal Abbas in the last minute of the match. Haroon Rasheed and Ameer Hamza were field umpires while Malik Safdar was reserve umpire. Syed Zia Hussain Bukhari, Asif Shahzad, Yasir Lodhi, and Akhtar Ali were technical officials.
The last match of the day was played between Pakistan Air Force (PAF), and Punjab Rangers, which PAF won by 2-1. Mohsin Hasan scored both goals from Pakistan Air Force while Dawood Bhatta scored the only goal from Punjab Rangers. Anwar Hussain and Zahid Ali performed the umpiring duties in this match along with Rizwan Khan who was the reserve umpire. The technical officials included Naveed Mirza, Gulfam Khokhar, and Yasir Lodhi along with Rafiqur Rehman.
On this occasion, Tournament Director Olympian Nasir Ali, Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh, Tournament Organizing Secretary Colonel Mohammad Yameen, Assistant Tournament Director Major Tariq Wark, Assistant Tournament Director Raja Shuja Iqbal, Empires Manager Zulfikar Hussain, Assistant Empires Manager Kamran Shah, Assistant Empires Manager Mubarak Ali.
