KARACHI Lahore got off to a flying start with a 3-1 victory against an unimpressive Karachi at the Junior Super Hockey League at Hockey Club of Pakistan under floodlights on Tuesday.
The winners took an early lead when Rizwan slotted home in the ninth minute, while they could have doubled the lead few minutes later but Javed's reverse hit missed the goal.
Coming back after lemon time with a one-goal lead, Lahore were once again pressing for another goal which they got seven minutes into second session when Ghaffar sounded the backboard.
Karachi were seen struggling in the real sense and mounted pressure but squandered the opportunities. Sarfaraz cut in from right but his cross was wasted by Majid Ghafoor, although he was in a perfect position to score.
Sarfaraz once sent a perfect cross only to see ball crossing the backline as the attackers were not even near the circle.
While Karachi's front-runners seemed to be short of stamina, they paid heavily because of their slack defence as Abdul Khaliq's opportunist strike from the left saw Lahore making it 3-0 in the 41st minute.
Karachi would have reduced the lead had M. Salman's effort from the top of the circle not missed the target.
The local outfit, however, scored the consolation goal through Sohail Ashraf just four minute into third session before Salman missed yet another sitter.
Karachi again lost a golden opportunity when Aley Imran's push during 10-second one-to-one with Lahore goalkeeper was well saved.
Lahore's Ghaffar was adjudged the player of the match.
Earlier, Quetta edged past Larkana 1-0 thanks to Fahad Khan strike in the 63rd minute. Amir of Quetta was the player of the match.
In the last match played under lights Dawood Khalid's match-winner propelled Sialkot to a 2-1 win over Multan.
Multan took the lead through Mohammad Zahid in the 32nd minute before Sialkot's M. Adnan leveled the score in the 42nd minute. Dawood slammed home the winner in the 68th minute.
Sialkot 's Ahmad Shakeel was declared the player of the match.
Meanwhile, according to organisers, 27 players were found overage by the scrutiny committee and Nadra officials who were present at the venue.
Tournament director Hanif Khan said that there would be no action against the team managers as the players were spotted before the start of the match. He had earlier said that he would recommend two-year ban against the managers of the team whose players are found overage.
The scrutiny process before each match consumed too much time and disturbed the schedule of the matches.
Following are the overage players
Aamir, Saqib, Haseeb, Adnan, Ashiq, Sufian (Larkana), Hatim, Javed, M. Waseem, A. Sattar (Quetta), Ali Arshad, Rizwan, Asad, Talha Ghouri, Umair Khan, Ali Hussain (Karachi), Hafiz Umair, Sadaqat, Ehsan Ubaid, Muddasir, Rashid (Lahore), M. Ilkhas Bhatti (Sialkot), Adnan, Atiq, Ahsan Liaquat, Bilal Ahmad, and Mahmood (Multan).
