Army dominate athletics with 17 gold medals

KARACHI: Army won the men’s competitions while WAPDA reigned supreme in the women’s slots of the athletics event of the 34th National Games which concluded in Quetta on Monday.

In the men’s section, Army finished at the summit with 17 gold, nine silver and six bronze medals. WAPDA ended as runners-up with five gold, 11 silver and four bronze while Pakistan Air Force (PAF) finished third with one gold, two silver and four bronze medals.

Navy, with one silver and three bronze, wrapped up their journey at the fourth spot with Sindh finishing fifth with one silver and HEC ending sixth with five bronze medals. WAPDA reigned supreme in the women’s section, finishing at the summit with 13 gold, ten silver and four bronze medals. Army, with five gold, eight silver and seven bronze, finished as runners-up, with HEC taking third spot with three gold, three silver and seven bronze. Sindh finished fourth with two bronze while Punjab ended at the fifth spot with one bronze.

Overall, Army finished at the summit with 22 gold, 17 silver and 13 bronze. WAPDA ended as runners-up with 18 gold, 21 silver and eight bronze. HEC, with three gold, three silver and 12 bronze, finished third.

In the men’s 110m hurdles, Farhan Ilyas of Army claimed gold with 14.30 seconds of time. Mohammad Nawaz of WAPDA clocked 14.40 seconds to take silver while Mohammad Azam of WAPDA clocked 14.50 seconds to finish with a bronze.

The men’s pole vault gold went to Jaffar of Army with a 4.60, followed by Asad Ali of Army who managed 4.50 to finish with a silver and Asif Ali of PAF with 4.30 claimed bronze. In the men’s hammer throw, Shakeel Ahmed of Army took gold with 58.20 m, WAPDA’s Azhar Abbas captured silver with 56.45m and Mohammad Zeeshan of Army with a throw of 54.93m cinched bronze medal.

The men’s 4x400m relay gold was won by Army with 3:11.40, WAPDA took silver medal with 3:12.90 and Navy with 3:19.30 claimed bronze. The men’s 3000m steeplechase gold went to Army’s Sohail Shah who clocked 10:00.50, WAPDA’s Nasir Ali with 10:01.30 claimed silver while Army’s Mohammad Naeem with 10:04.90 clinched bronze.

In the women’s 4x400m relay, WAPDA won gold with a time of 3:58.40. Army, with a time of 4:12.90, claimed silver. HEC clocked 4:17.20 to pick bronze. Maria Bibi of WAPDA won the 500m gold with a time of 22:04.2, Farhat Bano of WAPDA clinched silver with a time of 22:04.4 and Sindh’s Dua Nazakat, with a time of 22:53.3, claimed bronze medal.

The women’s triple jump gold went to Antul of HEC who managed 11.36 metre, HEC’s Mahnoor of HEC took silver with 10.72m and with 10.44m Army’s Malika claimed bronze. Faryal Farooq of Army grabbed the discus throw gold with 35.23m, Rimsha Khan of WAPDA, with 33.77m, claimed silver while Punjab’s Ishrat Fatima, with 32.16m, picked bronze.

Fatima Hussain of WAPDA with a throw of 42.28 metre claimed women’s javelin throw gold, Army’s Nabila Kausar, with a throw of 38.41m, snared silver and Ammara Iqbal of Army, with a throw of 37.14, picked bronze.