Wild-card entrant: Najma eyes Olympic medal

National athletics champion means business, not going to Rio just to make the numbers

KARACHI: Reigning national athletics champion Najma Parveen will not rest just at securing an Olympic wild card berth, but has already set her sights on impressing at this summer’s Games in Rio, Brazil, where she will be representing Pakistan along with Mehboob Ali.

Najma and Ali weren’t the original choices of the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) for this summer’s Games, but a stunning show at the national championship in May — where the former bagged six gold medals and the latter equaled a 12-year-old 400m national record — forced a rethink.

In the end, the duo replaced 100m hurdler Maria Martab and 800m runner Muhammad Ikram respectively, who were previously Rio-bound. And Najma credits her entire team for such an incredible turnaround.



“When Maria’s name was first announced it was expected that she will book Olympics berth, but my coach’s hard work and mine paid off,” Najma told The Express Tribune. “Olympics are every sportsperson’s dream and I am honoured that I will represent Pakistan at this mega event.”

But instead of just being content at journeying on the Rio plane, Najma is hungry for more. “I want to rewrite history books by becoming the first ever female athlete from Pakistan to win an Olympic medal,” Najma added.



She did bemoan the brief nature of her training camp. “Our training camp should have started much earlier as now there is very little time to prepare. But still I will give my best and try to finish on podium,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2016.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.