Youth Olympics: Pakistan beat Mexico 6-2 in hockey

Shooter Javeria fails to qualify for finals of 10m Air Pistol event.

KARACHI: Pakistan began the hockey Youth Olympics campaign by thrashing Mexico 6-2 in their first Pool B fixture of the five-a-side event at Nanjing YOG Sports Park Hockey Field, Nanjing, China on Sunday.

Pakistan took the lead in the second minute of the first half when Muhammad Atiq scored the first goal of the match. Four minutes later, Mubashar Ali doubled the lead, while Shan Irshad added another goal in the seventh minute to strike a blow to Malaysian hopes.

The second half saw only one goal being scored in the 22nd minute by Malaysian Jacobo Montano in a desperate effort to lessen the deficit.

The third and final half saw four goals being netted. Shah Irshad struck one in the 25th minute, followed by Muhammad Yaqoob’s 29th minute effort.

Bilal Mehmood then placed the cherry on top with a 33rd minute goal, while Mexico scored the last goal of the match in the 34th.

The matches are being played on three 12-minute halves format. Each half is separated by a two-minute break. The significant change in this championship is that a player can score a goal from anywhere in the field as done in football; there is no restriction of the traditional ‘D’ area.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s 16- year-old shooter, Javeria Shafqat, failed to book a place in the top eight to qualify for the final event. She finished last out of the 20 participants in the qualification round of the 10m Air Pistol Women’s competition. She shot a score of 355 in four sectors at the Fangshan Shooting Hall.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2014.

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