Pakistan win 11 medals in Special Olympics World Winter Games

Athletes bag 11 medals for the country in Austria

KARACHI: Pakistan have bagged 11 medals at the Special Olympics World Winter Games 2017 in Austria on Wednesday.

Murree-based Sabahat Tariq grabbed the gold medal in the 100m snowshoeing event of division F02, while Fatima Amir took the silver medal in 100m snowshoeing in Division F03.

On the other hand, Farah Ehsan was fifth in the division F04 and Rimsha Naeem was fourth in division F05.

In the men's 100m snowshoeing competitions, Pervez Ahmed grabbed the silver medal in M10 division with Huzaifa Qazi also getting the second place in M01 division.

Muhammad Abdullah Tahir finished third in Division M03.

Meanwhile in 200m snowshoeing race, Qazi took the first position in Division M01, Ahmed was again a silver-medalist in M13 division and Muhammad Hamza Aslam bagged a bronze medal in division M07, while Tahir ended the event on the seventh place in division M04.

In the women's 200m, Fatima was again on the second place with a silver medal in division F04, Farah held her own to take the bronze medal in division F07, Sabahat was fourth in Division F03 and Rimsha ended the race on the seventh place in division F11, according to Special Olympics Pakistan (SOP) officials.

Mehwish Tufail also won a bronze medal in the 50m cross country skiing event.

The medal ceremony for events like 100m snowshoeing took place yesterday while the rest of the medals will be distributed on Thursday.

The Special Olympics Pakistan (SOP) media manager Amjad Aziz said that the athletes have enjoyed their events in Ransau Dachstein and they are eager to learn more while their performance has been phenomenal.

This is only the second time that Pakistan is competing at the Winter World games. They’ve enjoyed an impressive run at the Summer Games over the years, winning 34 medals in the last edition of the games in Los Angeles.

"We've had a great time here," Aziz told The Express Tribune. "The athletes had been preparing for the games in Naltar with the help of Pakistan Ski Federation as well so they are well-accustomed to the weather here."