AHF Women Hockey Cup: Pakistan decimate Cambodia 11-0

Mayira’s quintet helps women in green thrash African minnows

KARACHI: Five goals by Mayira Sabir guided Pakistan women’s hockey team to a lopsided 11-0 victory over Cambodia in their second fixture of the 4th Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Women Hockey Cup yesterday in Bangkok, Thailand.

After looking rusty and settling for a share of the spoils in the 1-1 draw with Hong Kong in the opening fixture, the 55th-ranked Pakistan came out firing on all cylinders against the Cambodian minnows and were 1-0 up in the eighth minute when Ishrat Abbas converted a penalty corner.

Three minutes later, Afshan Noureen doubled her team’s lead before Hina Pervaiz’s 18th-minute strike tripled their advantage, whereas captain Hina Kanwal got her name on the scoresheet in the 25th minute.



Mayira scored first of her five goals in the 33rd minute and Ishrat netted her second in the final minute of the first half as Pakistan headed into the interval with a comfortable 6-0 lead.

The second half was all about the in-form Mayira who ran circles around the Cambodian defence and struck in the 44th, 52nd, 53rd and 69th minutes. Also among the scorers was Kulsoom Shahzadi whose solitary strike came in the 59th minute.

“This was a much needed victory to boost the confidence of our players before upcoming tough matches. Although Cambodia are not an experienced team, our girls are playing international hockey after three years so this was a job well done,” head coach Muhammad Usman told The Express Tribune

“The Cambodian team did make some attacks but our defence was strong enough to block them off before they got a sniff of the goal. We also saw three penalty corner converted which is a good sign,” he said, adding that the  team has two days before the next match against Singapore, allowing them to spend some additional time in training and hone their skills.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2016.

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