Najma to compete in Tokyo today

KARACHI: Pakistan’s premier female athlete Najma Parveen will show her worth in the 200 metre race in the Tokyo Olympics athletics event on Monday (today).

Her race will begin at 6:38 am PST. This will be the second time on the trot when the 2019 South Asian Games gold medallist will be fielding in the Olympics.

The Faisalabad-based athlete also competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics. She has been winning national titles since 2010.

She set a handful of records in the 2019 National Games in Peshawar and carried the form into the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal in December 2019 where she snared a 400m hurdles gold, two silver medals and a bronze.

Najma will be going all out to improve her best timing in the event which will be considered an impressive show at this major stage.

She faced a hiccup before going for the Olympics when Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) declined her entry for the Tokyo Games but Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) reinstated that soon to give Najma another opportunity to showcase her talent amid the world’s best athletes in Tokyo.

She had been chosen for the 2016 Rio Games against a wild card entry following her spectacular performances in the National Championship in Quetta where she won loads of medals.

She will have to prove that she deserved a spot in the Tokyo Olympics. Her best timing in the 200 metre race is 23.69 seconds. She will feature in the heat-2, carrying eight athletes.