Visually impaired K-P athletes shine in Pindi
In a first, the Rawalpindi authorities arranged a 6km race for visually-impaired people as part of its annual 16km marathon on Sunday.
It was split into three different categories including the blind category. Rawalpindi District Sports Officer Shams Tauheed told The Express Tribune that visually impaired people in such a large number have never participated in any marathon.
“For the first time in the world, about 90 visually impaired people have participated in a 6km long marathon,” he said.
The Guinness Book of Records had been contacted in this regard and that Rawalpindi was the first city in the world to hold a marathon for such a large number of visually impaired persons.
The main event of the 16-km long marathon started from Rawat-T Chowk and culminated at Liaquat Bagh Sports Complex. Muhammad Akhtar from Sahiwal, Israr from Rawalpindi, and Sher Khan from Jhelum took first, second and third positions respectively in the open category.
Meanwhile, Subhan Ashiq got first position the 6km race in the under-16 category which started from Morgah Mor to Liaquat Bagh Sports Complex.
The 6km run for blind athletes started from Morgah Mor to Liaquat Bagh Sports Complex in which Saifullah from Taimargirah got first position, Irfanullah from Mardan second, and Muhammad Akram from Gujranwala got the third position.
Cash prizes
Cash prizes were distributed among the winning athletes. Deputy Commissioner Anwarul Haq said that he wanted athletes to win a medal for Pakistan in the future. He added trend of indoor games rose during the pandemic.
He said that such events would greatly benefit the people and their goal was to bring people back to the culture of sports.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2021.