Special Olympics Summer Games 2011, day two: Pakistan’s medal bag gets heavier

Cyclists Fajar Zaheer and Sana Javed bagged silver medals in the 1000-metre races in Athens. PHOTO: SAIMA MOHSIN

Twelve-year-old Zaheer secured the silver medal in her division when she covered the distance in two minutes and 45.20 seconds, losing the first position to Czech Republic’s Denisa Kmentova, who bagged the gold medal with two minutes and 17.34 seconds, while Costa Rica’s Maricruz Marin finished third.

Meanwhile, 14-year-old Javed also bagged second place in the 1000-metre race in division F02. She covered the distance in three minutes and 0.86 seconds, while Mexico’s Julissa Colorado took the first position and India’s Samriti Sethi secured third place with a difference of 18 seconds.

Zaheer and Javed will now participate in the five-kilometre (km) time-trial event, while gold medallist Billawal Aslam will compete in the 10-km road race today.

“Our cyclists are doing very well and I believe that Aslam’s gold medal has motivated others as well,” coach Ishrat Zehra told The Express Tribune.

“ Zaheer and Javed had confidence issues in the beginning but they performed very well.”

Meanwhile, on the men’s basketball front, Pakistan defeated Nigeria 34-7 after losing their first match to Indonesia.

Pakistan’s bocce team also won the bronze medal after losing to Faroe Islands 120-40 in the semi-final.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2011.