Lahore dominate Punjab Games

Hosts stamp authority on opening day of event.

LAHORE:

Hosts Lahore finished on top after the first day of the 71st Punjab Games, which also witnessed a glittering opening ceremony at the provincial capital.

The nine-region competition will witness the participation of 3000 athletes in 19 men’s and eight women’s events.

Lahore started off well bagging gold medals in three separate cycling events, including the team event, in which Faisalabad clinched second place and Gujranwala finished with bronze. In the individual cycling events, Lahore’s Ashfaq Ahmed stood first in the 1,000-metre race with Lahore’s Mohammad Shakeel and Faisalabad’s Ahsan Abbas finishing second and third respectively. In the 4000-metre race, Ashfaq and Shakeel grabbed the top two positions, while Faisalabad’s Mohammad Irfan finished with the bronze medal.

Sara wins 100-metre sprint

In the women’s 100-metre sprinting event, Sara Mumtaz of Faisalabad won the gold while Musawar Iqbal from Sahiwal won silver and Saira Shaukat had to be content with the bronze medal. In the 400-metre event, Sahiwal’s Sambiya Noreen, Faisalabad’s Amna Siraaj and Lahore’s Kasur Batool did well to finish on the podium.

Lahore clinch rugby gold

At the Defence Rugby Ground the hosts again displayed their dominance, annihilating Faisalabad 38-0 to secure the gold medal. Multan did well to win the bronze medal beating Dera Ghazi Khan 10-7 in a closely-contested match.

The karate event kicked off with Mohammad Naeem of Sargodha, Ali Mehmood of Lahore and Mohammad Yaqoob of Gujranawala bagging the top three positions.

The squash competition witnessed Lahore outclassing Sarghodha and Gujranwala beating Faisalabad. The badminton event started off with Rawalpindi, Multan, Lahore and Faisalabad advancing to the semi-finals. The last-four stage then saw the hosts beating Faisalabad 2-0 while Multan also overcame Rawalpindi to set up an interesting final.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2011.