Army lead men’s events with eight gold medals, WAPDA dominate women’s contests
KARACHI: Army’s Maria Maratab set a new national record in triple jump on the second day of the 48th National Athletics Championship here at the PSB Coaching Centre on Saturday.
Maria, who recorded 11.96m, broke the record of Maryam Babar of WAPDA who finished second with 11.35m. Maryam had inked 11.75m in the 2013-14 National Championship in Islamabad. Alia Noor of WAPDA ended with bronze with 10.17m.
“I am very happy that I have set a new record. I had worked hard for that and I will try to do even better in future,” Maria told reporters after her superb performance in the event.
Meanwhile Maryam told ‘The News’ that she did not train properly and that damaged her cause. “It happened due to some mistakes in my training. But I will try to perform well if I am selected for the Islamic Games,” she said.
WAPDA had a tight grip on the women’s events while Army had an edge in the men’s slots as per the official statistics.
At the completion of the second day’s proceedings, Army were leading the men’s events with eight gold, ten silver and four bronze. They were followed by WAPDA with six gold, three silver and ten bronze.
Pakistan Air Force (PAF) secured their first gold through Mohsin Ali in the 110m hurdles. Higher Education Commission (HEC) got two silver medals while Railways were able to take bronze.
WAPDA were in control of the women’s slots with nine gold, ten silver and four bronze medals. Army were trailing second with five gold, four silver and three bronze medals.
Higher Education Commission (HEC) have claimed five gold while Punjab and Balochistan have to their credit one bronze each.
On the penultimate day, in the men’s 20km walk-race, Faizan Khan of Army captured gold with a timing of 1:52.44. He was followed by Qasim Faiz of Army with 1:53.29 while Railways’ Hafeez got bronze with a timing of 1:56.38.
In the 10,000m, Sohail Amir of WAPDA claimed gold with a timing of 32 minutes and 40 seconds. He was followed by Mohammad Ijaz of Army who clocked 33:04.09 while Mohammad Bilal of WAPDA claimed bronze with a timing of 33:11.07.
The men’s 800m gold went to Mohammad Ikram of WAPDA with a timing of 1:51.97. Umar Sadaat of HEC grabbed silver with 1:52.55 while Waqas Akbar of Army captured bronze with 1:53.79.
Mohammad Imran of WAPDA clinched long jump gold with 7.22m. Mohammad Afzal of Army captured silver with 7.10m while Adnan Jehangir of WAPDA captured bronze with 7.02m.
Mohsin Ali of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) retained the 110m hurdles gold medal with a timing of 14.73seconds. Mohammad Nawaz of WAPDA captured silver with 14.86 and Saddam Hussain of Army got bronze with 14.91.
Tariq Mehmood of Army won the 3000m steeplechase gold with 9:30.83. Abdul Samad of WAPDA got silver with 9:37.30 and Faisal Sultan of Army secured bronze with 9:47.48.
The country’s amazing racer Mehboob Ali of Army claimed 400m hurdles gold with a timing of 51.20 seconds. His elder brother Naukar Hussain of Army finished with silver by clocking 51.27 while Adeel Ahmed of WAPDA ended with bronze with a timing of 53.77. Abid Ali of HEC picked injury when his leg collided with the hurdles and he fell to the ground just before the finish line due to pain.
The hammer throw gold went to Mohammad Shakeel of Army who recorded a throw of 62.37m. WAPDA’s Habibullah claimed silver with 61.56 and WAPDA’s Azhar Abbas picked bronze with 61.33m.
In the women’s 400m hurdles, Olympian Najma Parveen claimed gold with a timing of 1:01.85. Musarrat Shaheen of WAPDA got silver with 1:05.57 while Army’s Shehla Manzoor grabbed bronze with 1:12.41.
Olympian Rabia Ashiq lifted her second gold of the event when she finished first in the 1500m by clocking 4:57.78. WAPDA’s Samabia Noureen claimed silver with 5:04.32 and HEC’s Saba Yousuf picked bronze with 5:29.12.
The 100m hurdles gold went to Maria Maratab with a timing of 15.39 seconds. WAPDA’s Ghazala Ramzan claimed silver with 16.38 and Musarrat Shaheen of WAPDA picked bronze with 17.77.
The hammer throw gold went to Saira Saleem of Army with 37.87m. She was followed by Razia Sultana of WAPDA with 37.44 and Nazia Kausar of WAPDA got bronze with 35.27m.
Kanwal Fayyaz of Army won the 5km walk gold while Nirma Javed of Army and HEC’s Saba Yousuf got silver and bronze medals respectively.