Special Olympics Summer Games 2011: Pakistan richer by nine medals

Clinch gold in 100-metre race, bocce event on day seven.

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s medal bag keeps getting heavier at the Special Olympics Summer Games 2011 after the country’s athletes bagged nine more medals on day seven of the event underway in Athens, Greece.

Adeel Ameer won a gold medal in the 100-metre race while Abdul Nasir and Zulfiqar Ali paired up to win the bocce men’s doubles event.

Rahimullah Baig, who was disqualified from the 800-metre race earlier, hit back to finish in second place in the 1500-metre run to bag a silver medal for Pakistan. He covered the distance in four minutes and 50.35 seconds behind Tanzania’s Emmanuel G Mwakyelu (four minutes and 47.14 seconds) while Portugal’s Angelo Miguel Pais secured a bronze medal after clocking a time of four minutes and 57.28 minutes.

“We are very proud of Baig,” athletics coach Javad Arshad told The Express Tribune. “Any other athlete in his place would have been very discouraged.

“But he was determined to win a medal. He told me that he wouldn’t want to return home without a medal.”

Meanwhile, Misbah Tariq grabbed a silver medal in the 200-metre race as she covered the distance in 36.24 seconds finishing behind Hong Kong’s Choi Yuk Tse (35.29 seconds). Bahrain’s Nayla H Alaathem finished third in the event with a time of 37.43 seconds.

Similarly, Sikhawat Ali won silver in the long-jump event when he recorded a distance of 4.85 metres. Bangladesh’s Ripon Ahmed bagged the gold medal (4.88 metres) while Niger’s Laouali Amadou finshed at third place (4.77 metres).

Usama Riaz and Arsalan Ahmed won the silver medal in the table tennis men’s doubles event while the men’s basketball team also finished second after suffering a 31-12 loss against India in the final. They had defeated Turkey to reach the final.

Suhail Ahmed Khan and Quratulain won bronze medals in the mixed doubles badminton event and the Pakistan swimming team finished third in the 4x25 freestyle relay event as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2011.