Mehboob, Najma bag 400m hurdles crowns

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan raised their gold medal tally to 20 in the ongoing 13th South Asian Games, winning two titles each in athletics and weightlifting on Friday.

According to reports reaching here, Pakistani athletes won both the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles.

Mehboob Ali completed the distance in 50.71 seconds to claim the top position among men. The master hurdler left top Indians athletes behind. Jabir Madair Pa and Santosh Kumar, both from India, finished second and third, respectively.

Later, Najma Parveen won the gold medal in the same event, winning in 1.00.35secs to leave a strong field of Indian and Sri Lankan girls behind.

Kawshalya Madhu of Sri Lanka took the silver while the bronze went to India’s Veerpal Kaur.

There were bronze medals for Pakistan in both the men’s and women’s 4x100m relays. Pakistan’s team of Samiullah, Muhammad Shahbaz, Uzair Rehman and Muhammad Naeem were third. Sri Lanka took the gold and India bagged the silver.

Pakistan’s quartet of Sahib-e-Esra, Najma Parveen, Aneela Gulzar and Esha Imran finished behind teams of Sri Lanka (gold) and India (silver).

The Pakistan weightlifting squad also got off to a golden start with Talha Talib lifting a total weight of 292kg to win the gold in the 67kg category. J A C Lackmal of Sri Lanka and Kamal Bahadur Adhikari of Nepal won the silver and bronze medals, respectively. Haider Ali later snatched the title in the 81kg category.

Late on Thursday, Maaz Khan beat Sri Lanka’s Puspa Kumara to win the wushu gold in the 75kg category. Sajid Hussain also took the 80kg gold in the wushu tournament, defeating India’s Navveen in the final. The third gold in the event was secured by Amjad Iqbal, who beat Sri Lanka’s Madusanka in the 85kg category decider.

Weightlifter Abu Sufian won a silver medal in the 73kg category.

Pakistan’s women shooters bagged a silver medal in the 10m air pistol team event. The team consisted of Mehwish Farhan, Anna Ibtisam and Kishmala Talat. India claimed the title and Bangladesh finished third.

Later, Anna Ibtisam won a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol event with Shri Nivetha Parmanathan of India taking gold and Ardina Ferdous of Bangladesh bagging silver.