Army dominate National Games

Swimmer Kiran shines with three gold medals.

KARACHI:

Defending champions Pakistan Army dominated proceedings at the National Games, winning a total of 12 gold medals with their swimmer Kiran Khan stealing the show with three first-place finishes.

Army were followed by Punjab in second place after the team won four silver medals at the event underway at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad.

The National Games officially got underway with cycling’s individual time trial competition, won by Army’s Sobia Zahid, who covered the 14-km distance in 26 minutes and six seconds.

Meanwhile, in the men’s individual time trial, Army’s Mohammad Sajid won the gold medal, covering the distance of 42km in one hour, three minutes and 45 seconds ahead of Sindh’s Naimatullah and Balochistan’s Habibullah.

In the swimming event, Army clinched a total of six gold and five silver medals.

The 100m and 400m free style girls’ competitions saw Kiran winning gold followed by teammate Mahnoor and Navy’s Bisma Khan respectively.

The 200m backstroke competition was won by Kiran with Abeera Sheikh and Bisma completing the podium.

In the men’s 200m freestyle heat, Army’s Israr Hussain added gold to their tally, while teammate Nasir Ahmed and Navy’s Manazir Iqbal came second and third respectively.

In the snooker team event, Punjab team, comprising IBSF world champion Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad and Imran Shehzad, won both their matches. They defeated Islamabad 3-1 with scores of 85-46, 125 (105)-0, 40-52 and 68-50 before thrashing Balochistan 3-0.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2013.

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