Kiran, Haseeb set new records in National Swimming Championship

KARACHI: Olympian Kiran Khan and Syed Haseeb Tariq on Saturday set new national records in the National Men and Women Swimming Championship at the DHA Lahore Swimming Pool.

Kiran, who featured in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, inked 30.10 seconds of timing in the 50 butterfly competitions to create a stir in the twilight of her career.

Army’s swimmer remained in oblivion for some time because of the emergence of Dubai-based Lianna Swan and London-based Anum Bandey who overshadowed the experienced Kiran.

However, she now seems to be ready to stage a nice comeback.

In the same event, Sindh’s diminutive swimmer Areeba Sheikh captured silver by clocking 32.74, while Ramsha Imran of Navy inked 34.64 to finish with a bronze.

Till filing of the story, Sindh (214 points) were leading overall in the women’s section with four gold, six silver and eight bronze. They were followed by Army (136 points) with seven gold, one silver and one bronze medal.

WAPDA (95 points) trailed third with one gold and four silver medals.

Meanwhile, Syed Haseeb Tariq of WAPDA created a new national record in the 100m freestyle competitions when he clocked 54.75 seconds of timing.

Ismail Najeeb of Punjab (57.39) got silver, while Mohammad Yahya Khan of WAPDA (57.83) captured bronze medal.

Army (236 points) were leading the men’s section with seven gold, six silver and four bronze medals.

WAPDA (179) followed with five gold, four silver and three bronze medals. Sindh (90 points) were trailing third with one silver and five bronze medals.

On Friday, Sindh’s women did a remarkable job by lifting three gold medals. Areeba Sheikh (100m freestyle) and Anushe Engineer (100m breaststroke) claimed a gold each, while Sindh’s third gold in the women’s section came through a superb finish in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Sindh’s fourth gold came on Saturday in the 4x100m medley relay.