WAPDA clinch athletics championship

Bag a total of 51 medals in national event in Islamabad.

KARACHI: Wapda won the 44th National Athletics Championship with an impressive overall tally of 22 gold, 15 silver and 14 bronze medals ahead of Army and Railways.

While Army ended the event, which concluded in Islamabad yesterday, with 17 gold, 16 silver and 13 bronze medals, Railways claimed two gold and two bronze medals to finish third.

In the men’s 100-metre race, Army’s Liaqat Ali won gold, while the women’s title went to Wapda’s Mubeen Akhtar.

Ali ran the distance in 10.65 seconds to finish ahead of teammate Mohammad Imran. Akhtar clinched the women’s race after clocking 12.64 seconds.  Wapda’s Ali Muhammad bagged two gold medals — winning the 800-metre and 1,500-metre races.

Meanwhile, PAF’s Muhammad Mohsin equalled the national record when he recorded a time of 13.74 seconds in the 110-metre hurdles event to also bag the gold medal.

In the women’s events, two national records were registered. Wapda’s Rabia Ashiq clocked a time of 19 minutes and four seconds to break the previous record in the 5,000-metre race. Her teammate Aliya Noor also broke the national record in the heptathlon competition with 4212 points to win gold and finish ahead of teammate Praveen Akhtar and Army’s Sidra Kausar

While Wapda won the overall event, Army finished on top of the men’s medals table with 16 gold, 12 silver and six bronze medals, finishing ahead of the overall champions Wapda. PAF secured third position with one gold, three silvers and two bronze medals.

In the women’s event, Wapda stood first with 17 gold, 10 silver and four bronze medals.

The championship featured 15 teams which represented four provinces and different sports departments.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2012.