Pakistan win bucketful of medals in Los Angeles

KARACHI: Pakistan on Thursday lived up to the billing when they lifted seven gold and three bronze medals in different sports events of the Special Olympics World Games being held in Los Angeles.
In tennis, Pakistani pair of Ahsan Anwar and Muhammad Arif Qayyum beat Venezuela’s Soleman and Eskander 4-2, 4-0 in the final to grab the men’s doubles gold.
All the competitors of tennis events were divided into four divisions on the basis of their ability and performance. Pakistan’s pair was placed in open fourth division having 12 players. As per rules four type of ITF-approved balls were used for different categories of ability.
For division four green ITF-approved balls were used.
In table tennis, Pakistan’s Muhammad Arham edged Stojanovski David of Mecedonia 3-0 in the men’s singles to secure gold.
Arham on his way to final routed Al Ketbi Awadh of United Arab Emirates (UAE) 3-1 and Diouf Moha Hamaou of Senigal 3-0 to set a title clash with Stojanovski David.
Ruqia finished with a bronze in the table tennis singles in division two encounters.
Ruqia beat Wong Ying of China 3-0 before losing to Chan Suetying of Hong Kong and Wong Ting with the identical 3-0 scoreline.
In badminton singles, Jahanzaib Iqbal lifted gold medal by winning all his three successive matches he played against the players of Germany and Isle of Man.
In athletics, Ramail Irshad bagged gold in the 200m by clocking 29:26 seconds in the final of the division 46 competitions. Eight players were contesting in this division with Meziane Zahid of Algeria having won silver with a timing of 29.30 while Wong Khai Lunk settling with the bronze.
Marvi Azhar earned bronze in 400m athletic event in division three with a timing of 1:25:16.
On Wednesday, Asim Zar finished first in the division 14 final of 100m freestyle swimming with a timing of 2:29.56. But his result was withheld due to technical reasons. However, in the end the jury awarded him the gold medal.
In cycling, Pakistan’s riders were too good for their opponents and in the one kilometre time trial Uzma Yousaf bagged gold with a timing of 2:37:55 while Khadija Irfan finished with a bronze by clocking 2:57. Elhadi Saffa of Morocco claimed silver with a timing of 2:45.76.
In other one kilometre time trial, Sumbal Yousuf of Pakistan finished seventh.
Aqsa continued her impressive run by winning gold in the 50m backstroke swimming slots of the division two with a timing of 1.40:09. Relsey of USA won silver while Darling Gomez of Aruba ended with a bronze medal.
In basketball, Pakistan team lost to Israel 19-27 while Pakistan’s unified team beat Luxemburg 36-29. Head coach SM Tanveer said Pakistan missed a handful of open opportunities.