Guangdong’s Last Dance in Pakistan: Police Await the Tourists in Lahore on Thursday
Seven matches, five cities, and it ends where the Lahore leg began. Guangdong play Pakistan Police at the DHA Hockey Stadium in Lahore on Thursday 29 October, the last game of their Pakistan tour before they fly home on Friday. No start time, ticket rule or stream has been announced for the finale, and that’s been the story of this tour from the start. The schedule shifted from the original August announcement, opponents changed, and even the Gojra youth fixture’s age group has been described two different ways. What hasn’t changed is the pattern on the pitch: the Pakistani sides have had the better of it, and Guangdong have made them work for it.
The first five games went 4-1 to the home sides. Mari Energies won the opener 5-2 in Rawalpindi on 20 October. Guangdong hit back the next day, beating Pakistan Army 4-2 in a shoot-out after a 1-1 draw. Navy won 3-1 on 23 October, with Noman Janjua scoring twice. Customs won 3-2 at this same DHA ground on Sunday 25 October. Then Rangers won 3-1 in Narowal on Monday, with Sami, Aamir Sohail and Hammad scoring after Guangdong had levelled at 1-1.
The sixth game, against Pakistan’s under-18 side at the National Hockey Stadium in Gojra today, had no reported result at the time of writing, so we’re not pretending to know how it went.
That leaves Police with a straightforward job and a tricky one at the same time. Straightforward, because they’re the last home side standing and the crowd in Lahore will expect a win to close the tour out. Tricky, because Guangdong have nothing to lose now. They’ve already shown they can take a game to a shoot-out and score against every side they’ve faced except in the opener. A touring team playing its final match, with the flight home booked, is dangerous in exactly the way departmental sides hate: loose, fast, and with no reason to hold anything back.
For Pakistan hockey, the value of this tour was never the scorelines. It was the reps. Departmental sides got foreign opposition in October, and the Gojra youngsters got a look at a different style of hockey before the bigger events on the calendar, including the SCO hockey tournament planned for Islamabad from 20 November to 2 December. Police get the last of those reps on Thursday. Win it, and the home sides close the tour on top. Lose it, and Guangdong fly home with a second tour win and a much better story than the one they arrived with.
Related links:
https://sportscursor.com/pakistan-rangers-beat-guangdong-3-1-narowal-26-october-2026/
https://sportscursor.com/guangdong-tour-pakistan-u18-gojra-28-october-2026/
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