Army win with record gold medals;WAPDA clinch women’s event

National Judo Championships

KARACHI: Army bagged a record nine gold medals to emerge as champions of the 25th National Men’s Judo Championship, while WAPDA dethroned Army in the 8th National Women’s Judo Championship which concluded at the Pakistan Sports Complex Islamabad on Saturday.

This was for the first time that Army claimed nine gold out of ten in the men’s competitions to annex the crown. Last year, both Army and WAPDA had shared the title.

Army also got one silver medal. WAPDA ended as runners-up with one gold and seven silvers while Railways finished third with two silver and four bronze.

Meanwhile in the women’s section, WAPDA did a fine job to dethrone Army as they finished at the summit with five gold and two bronze medals.

Army ended as runners-up with three gold, one silver and three bronze. Navy got third position with three silver and two bronze.

Earlier Olympian Shah Hussain of Army snared his second gold when he won the plus 100kg final. On the opening day Shah had got gold in the open weight category.

This is the first time that the Japan-based judoka took part in the national event.

The federal minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Riaz Pirzada graced the closing ceremony.

Takashi Kurai, Japan’s ambassador, also graced the occasion. He also handed over judo mats to Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) president Col. Junaid Alam.