Special Olympics Summer Games 2011: A medal shower for Pakistan

Nine medals won on day six of event.

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s campaign at the Special Olympics Summer Games 2011 keeps getting better and better as they bagged nine more medals at the end of day six of the event in Athens, Greece.

Bakhtawar Gul claimed a gold medal while Ayesha Iftikhar ended with a bronze in the long jump event while the men’s team secured first place in the 400x100 relay event and the female athletes claimed a silver medal.

Suhail Ahmed Khan clinched the men’s singles badminton title and Arsalan Ahmed won a gold medal in the men’s singles table tennis competition. Pakistan women’s basketball team bagged a silver medal after losing the final to Turkey 17-13.

Meanwhile, 11-year-old Gul recorded a distance of 3.20 metres in the long jump event to finish first on the podium ahead of Indonesia’s Prisma S.Anisya and compatrriot Iftikhar. The athlete has now won two gold and two silver medals in the previous two days.

Meanwhile, Khan won the badminton final against Indonesia’s Alex Wiranata 2-1 in a close match. Earlier, Rabia Saeed had also won the women’s singles event to bag another gold for Pakistan.

Similarly Ahmed defeated Iran’s Javad Abbasiantabar 2-1 to clinch the table tennis title, while Maria won bronze in the women’s singles event yesterday.

Meanwhile, swimmers Syed Ahsan Ali and Amir Husain won bronze medals in the 25-metre freestyle event.





Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2011.