Pakistan bags 10 golds in Special Olympics

KARACHI: In the recently-concluded 16th Special Olympics World Games held in Berlin, Pakistan secured a total of 10 gold medals.

The remarkable feat became achievable after cyclist Safeer Abid emerged clinched a gold in the 10km time trial race during the sporting event's cycling contest. He covered the distance in an impressive 23 minutes and 02.02 seconds.

This was a debut appearance of Safeer, a resident of Karachi, in the international games. The young athlete diligently prepared for this special sporting event over the past two years.

“I have the passion to win more medals for Pakistan in the upcoming international events,” he said.

In the 500m time trial race, Madeeha Tahir of Pakistan won the silver medal by covering the distance in 1 minute and 14.15 seconds, while Amina Arshad won the bronze medal by covering the distance in 1 minute and 16.82 seconds.

In the final of the futsal event, Oman won the gold medal by defeating Pakistan by 6-3 goals. Pakistan finished second with the silver medal.

Pakistan stood fourth in women's doubles, men's singles and unified men's doubles of the tennis event.

In the Bocce team event, Pakistan's Mahnoor, Simran Mahesh Lal, Jamilur Rahman and Farhan Aslam won the silver medal after defeating Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Farhan Aslam won the bronze medal in men's singles, and Mahnoor won the bronze medal in women's singles.

Earlier, Pakistan’s Muhammad Luqman and Habibullah clinched gold medals to increase the country’s gold medals tally.

Luqman bagged gold in the 100m race by clocking 15.21 seconds of timing. He also won a silver medal in the long jump.

Meanwhile, in powerlifting, Habibullah won gold in the 83 kilogramme deadlift. He also won silvers in squat, bench press and combined weight.

Mirwaiz won silver in the 3,000m race. He completed the distance in ten minutes and 11 seconds.

Pakistan's hockey team won bronze by beating Paraguay 3-2 in the game for third place. This is the first time that Pakistan is featuring in hockey.