Pakistan Army regain Quaid-e-Azam Trophy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army lifted the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in the 33rd National Games that concluded in Peshawar on Saturday, edging Wapda on the medals table following the final day’s proceedings.

Though just two gold medals separated the top sports departments — Army earned 150, Wapda had 148 — it was the silver medal count that made the difference as Army bagged 125 against Wapda’s 100. Army also won 82 bronze medals while Wapda collected 72. Army, who missed the 2012 Games, returned strongly to regain the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

On Saturday, Wapda beat Army 4-3 to earn the hockey title at the Lala Ayub Stadium in Peshawar. Wapda scored through Ali Aziz, Rana Waheed, Rizwan and Shajee Ahmad. Army equalised on three occasions; their scorers were Mohammad Waqas (2) and Nauman. Punjab defeated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 4-1 to win the bronze medal.

The teams played the matches within 16 hours of the semi-finals which is against the international rules.

“As the tournament director, I have to admit that is not only unjust but against the rules. We were asked by the Games organisers to complete all matches by 12 noon on Saturday and we had no other option,” Zahir Shah, who is also the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hockey Association’s president, said.

Army edged Wapda in the boxing competition, winning five gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Wapda finished with four gold, two silver and one bronze while PAF bagged one gold, three silver and one bronze to take third position.

Army’s gold-medallists were Ahmad Ali (plus 91kg), Saiful Mannan (75kg), Gul Zaib (69kg), Suleman Baloch (64kg) and Syed M Asif (54kg). Wapda won titles through Sanaullah (91kg), Mohibullah (60kg), Najeebullah (56kg) and Jahanzaib Khan (49kg). The lone gold for PAF was won by Mehmoodul Hasan (81kg).

Army completely dominated the taekwondo event in Abbottabad. They won 18 gold medals while Wapda had 11. Pakistan Air Force bagged two and Railways took one title. In all, Army won 32 medals (9 silver, 5 bronze), Wapda bagged 25 (10 silver, 4 bronze) and Air Force 21 (5 silver, 14 bronze).

Army won 14 gold medals in the judo competition that also concluded in Abbottabad, leaving Wapda well behind in second spot. Wapda had to be content with four gold medals. Army also won one silver and three bronze medals while Wapda claimed four silver and four bronze. Navy earned four silver and seven bronze medals.

Wapda defeated Army 30-27 in the women’s handball final.

Murad Ali (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) annexed the men’s singles title in the badminton tournament after beating Awais Zahid of Wapda in the decider. In the women’s singles final, No 1 seed Mahoor Shahzad of Wapda defeated Sehra Akram. Irfan Saeed and Azeem Sarwar of Wapda won the men’s doubles gold. Anjum Bashir and Raja Zulqarnain of Punjab took the silver.

Sehra Akram and Huma Javed defeated Mahoor Shahzad and Bushra Qayyum in the final of the women’s doubles. Both the pairs represent Wapda.

There was an all-Wapda encounter in the mixed doubles gold match too with Ali Larosh and Ghazala Siddique downing Azeem Sarwar and Saima Waqas.

Wapda lifted the men’s volleyball crown after beating PAF 29-31, 25-19, 25-21, 25-19 in an exciting final. Navy and Wapda shared the football gold as rain marred the final.

Peshawar Bureau adds: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman was the chief guest at the closing ceremony on Saturday.

Senior Minister for Tourism, Culture, Sports, Museums and Archaeology Atif Khan and office-bearers of various sports organisations and a large number spectators were also present on the occasion.

Shah Farman announced the closing of the Games after the fire in the cauldron was put off. Later, the chief guest distributed trophies among the teams.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was awarded the fair-play trophy. Singers Faakhir Mehmood and Sufia Kaif enthralled the audience with Urdu and Pashto songs and received huge appreciations.