Islamabad: The Dutch Hockey Club emerges victorious against HEC team by winning the third and final match of the three-match series. The match was draw with two goals each side within the scheduled time, while the Dutch team won the match with three goals to two on Penalty Strokes at Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium, Islamabad.
The diplomats from various countries watched the match along with Olympians, sports enthusiasts, university students from twin cities, and media personnels. Among the attendees were the Ambassador of Dutch to Pakistan, Mrs. Henny de Vries, the Australian High Commissioner, Mr. Neil Hawkins, Acting Ambassador of Romania to Pakistan, Mr. Eduard-Robert Preda, Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan, Mr. Totuiaev Ulanbek Asankulovich, the High Commissioner-designate of Brunei Darussalam, Colonel (r) Pengiran Haji Kamal Bashah and Ambassador of Morocco to Pakistan and Dean of the African Corps Mr. Mohammed Karmoune were present on the occasion.
While talking to the gathering, the Dutch Ambassador appreciated the efforts of HEC for streamlining all the stakeholders for organizing an exciting Hockey series in Pakistan.
Mr. Javed Ali Memon, Incharge Sports HEC thanked the Dutch Ambassador and said that under the visionary leadership of Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman HEC, it was decided in a meeting with Olympian Khawaja Junaid to provide our young players an International exposure which has successfully been acquired. He maintained that Pakistan is one of the ideal destinations where sports tourism needs support from international community.
Under various initiatives of Higher Education Commission, Pakistan Talent Hunt Youth Sports League is an exciting and enthralling project that is focused on identifying aspiring players in 12 selected sports and engaging these players of age 15-25 years in sports leagues at national and international level. This is the reason that an enthralling Hockey series between OHC Bully, the Dutch Hockey Club and HEC team was planned and successfully executed.
During the Hockey Talent Hunt, trials of 10,816 boys and girls aged 15-25 years were conducted in 25 regions across Pakistan. Out of which 900 boys and girls were selected and 50 teams were formulated to engage the aspiring players for training camps followed by Provincial Leagues for boys and girls were held in 5 regions. From the provincial leagues, 72 outperforming boys and girls were shortlisted to form two provincial teams. The teams were again given an opportunity to participate in training Camps and participate in Hockey National Leagues. A pool of 40 outstanding players were selected across the Country after the Hockey National league. To give players, an international exposure, trials were held in Lahore to select 18 players for HEC team to compete the three-match series with the Dutch Hockey Club.
