HEC win women’s skiing championship

Ifra, Fatima assist team by claiming gold in giant slalom and slalom respectively


Natasha Raheel January 25, 2016
PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: Higher Education Commission (HEC) clinched the Sadia Khan Women and Children Ski Championship on Monday after two days of slalom and giant slalom competitions in Naltar, Gilgit-Baltistan.

HEC’s Ifra Wali, the 2011 South Asian Winter Games gold-medallist who was featuring in a skiing competition for the first time since breaking her ankle in Austria last year, clinched gold in the giant slalom event by clocking 32.38sec. Her teammate Fatima Sohail finished second, followed by PAF’s Zainab Sohail.

“This is the first competition I am participating in a year and I’m extremely glad with the recovery [from my injury],” Ifra told The Express Tribune. “It was a great run, made all the more special as we won the championship. I know I’ve bettered my timing and Fatima was really close. I really wanted to win the giant slalom event since I couldn’t do too well in slalom [as Fatima claimed gold].”

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Fatima had finished the slalom event in 1min 27sec to bag gold, while Zainab and Ifra finished second and third respectively.

In the U14 boys championship, Civil Aviation Authority skiers Waqas Azam and Abdul Razak took the top two positions, whereas Army’s Zahid Ali Khan finished third in the giant slalom event.

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This was Azam’s second gold medal in the championship as he had also claimed gold in the slalom event, which had taken place on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Ski Federation of Pakistan carried out night-skiing training exercises for the first time at Naltar and many of the participants, including Ifra, were amazed at how different skiing at night could be from skiing in the day.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th,  2016.

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