49th National Athletics Championship concludes

Army men, Wapda women emerge champions

By Abdul Mohi Shah

ISLAMABAD: Army men’s dominance in domestic athletics continues while Wapda women emerged champions as the 49th National Athletics Championship concluded at the Jinnah Stadium Islamabad Sunday.

Army scooped up sixteen out of 23 gold medals at stake in men category during the three-day competition while Wapda confirmed their status as the department producing the best women athletes earning 14 out of 21 total gold medals. Army women won six gold with HEC completing the tally. Likewise Wapda won six gold medals in men category with PAF winning the lone gold.

Asian Games bronze medalist Arshad Nadeem (Wapda) gold medal was the highlight last day’s proceedings as he set the javelin to a distance of 79.40m almost 11 meters clear of his nearest rival M Yasir (Wapda) to win the gold. Imran Yaseen also from Wapda picked up silver. Wapda also won gold in high jump with Sheroz Khan leaping to the height of 2.07m. He was followed by his teammate Shafqat Abbas with PAF Azmat finishing third.

Army however dominated men’s proceedings even on the final day with Nadeem Hassan winning marathon gold early Sunday morning clocking 2:29.53. He was followed by M Imran (Wapda) and M Siyar (Army). Rameez Javed Mirza (Army) added yet another gold to his credit making it three, winning 1500m gold also. He already had won gold in 10000m and 5000m. He was followed by Sohail Aamir (Wapda) and Waqas Akbar (Army) for 1500m silver and bronze.

Army also bagged 4X100 relay men gold with the help of Ubaid Ali, Shahbaz, Uzair Rehman and Liaquat Ali. Wapda took silver with PAF finishing with bronze. Army’s quartet clocked 40.65 for golden efforts.

In heptathlon women event, Army took gold through Nabila Riaz with 3529 points in all. She was followed by Milhan Imtiaz and Alia Noor for silver and bronze efforts. Both represented Wapda.

Wapda women won gold in 4X100m relay with 48.01 time. Army and HEC women finished second and third respectively.Wapda also landed gold in women discus throw as Attiya Rana covered distance of 34.75m for her golden efforts. Qandeel Anyat (Army) and Zeenat Parveen (Wapda) took silver and bronze respectively.

Army bagged decathlon gold with Akhtar Munir gathering 6051 points for his golden efforts. His teammate Danish Rashid gave him tough time and finished closely on his heels for silver medal. Hassan Ilyas took bronze for Wapda.

Uzair Rehman got gold medal for Army in 200m sprint with 21.23sec. He was followed by his teammate M Shahbaz while Majid Nazir got bronze for Wapda.Army men also won 4x400m gold with Mehboob, Mahar, Waqas and Nadeem clocking 3:09.33. Wapda took silver while HEC snatched bronze.In women 4X400 relay Wapda took gold through Najma, Sahib-e-Asra, Aiqa and Musarat. Army took silver with HEC finishing with bronze.