Army Chief vows to revive Pakistan’s lost glory in sport

By
AFP
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Army Chief vows to revive Pakistan’s lost glory in sport

RAWALPINDI: The Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif has assured complete support to revive Pakistan’s identity as sporting nation.

According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), he made the remarks while witnessing the final of first Chief of Army Staff Hockey Cup here on Sunday.




Gen Raheel said that every endeavour for the revival of sports in the country would be supported. He said that golden days of the national game would be brought back, adding that Pakistan would be introduced in the world as a sport loving country.

National Bank has won the tournament by defeating Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) 2-0. The Army Chief was the chief guest and gave away trophy, medals and cash prizes to the winning teams.

A cash prize of Rs1 million was given to the National Bank team while Rs0.7 million cash prize was given to the runners up PIA and half a million rupees to the third position holder Pakistan Army hockey team.

Earlier, the winners NBP dominated their opponents for the better part of an epic battle. They got off a flying start at the outset when Ali Shan scored the first goal on a penalty corner rebound in the third minute of the fixture.

Ten minutes later captain Tauseeq Ahmed converted another penalty corner into a goal giving a 2-0 lead to his team that lasted till the end.

PIA strived hard to equalize the match but their attacks were not good enough to tame NBP that moved into the second session with a clear lead. The final session saw an exchange of attacks but both the teams remained unable to score any goal.

Muhammad Imran of Pakistan Army was given top scorer award for scoring nine goals in the event. Best goalkeeper award was given to Imran Butt of PIA while Rizwan Senior of Pakistan Army bagged the best player award of the tournament.