32nd National Games: High-flying Wapda remain on top

Team accumulates an overwhelming tally of 48 golds after fourth day.

KARACHI: Wapda pressed on with their winning streak in the 32nd National Games as they won 22 more gold medals on the fourth day. Sindh maintained their second position with 16 gold medals overall and Punjab replaced the Higher Education Commission (HEC) at the third spot with a tally of 10 golds.

The day began with Wapda’s Nasreen Akhtar winning the pole vault competition and her teammate Ghazala Sattar backing her up with silver. HEC’s Saima Erum secured the bronze medal. Nasreen went on to bag gold in the high jump event and another teammate Saima Sahar secured second position. Saima Naeem of HEC claimed bronze.

Wapda dominated the 800m sprint, Rabia Ashiq won the 800m women’s sprint race for Wapda while teammate Sawera clinched silver. Bronze was claimed by HEC’s Farhat Batool. In the men’s event, Ali Mohammad won gold.

HEC’s solitary gold in the athletics event came with Altaf Hussain, who won the javelin throw competition.

The tennis events were also dominated by Wapda as Pakistan number two Yasir Khan beat his own department’s Aqeel Khan 6-4, 7-5 in the singles. The pair went on to win the doubles event by defeating Punjab’s Heera Ashiq and Khurram Nazeer 6-2, 6-2.

Wapda also won the gymnastics overall competitions with 274.70 points, with Punjab taking silver with 244.60 points and Railways securing the third position with 236.50 points.

Wapda added yet another feather in their cap with a gold medal in the 77-kg weightlifting event while HEC took the honours in the 69-kg weightlifting event.

The table-tennis championship was also secured by Wapda as they beat Pakistan Railways 3-2 in the final, while Punjab won the bronze medal after defeating HEC 3-1.

Late show lifts Punjab to third in medals table

The biggest improvement of the day came from Punjab, as the team won three gold medals to replace HEC on the third position.

They defeated Police 38-5 to claim gold in the Rugby competition and excelled in the shooting events as well, taking gold in the individual trap competition and the double trap team event. Punjab won silver and bronze in the former event while Khyber-Pakhtukhwa and Islamabad took silver and bronze respectively in the latter competition.

Meanwhile, Sindh’s Soha Sanjrani was declared the best swimmer of the national games with five individual gold medals, one silver and one bronze, whereas Wapda’s Ghulam Mohammad got the best male swimmer award with six gold medals.

On the last day of the swimming event, Sindh’s Rida Mitha won the gold medal in the 50m freestyle event in 31.07 seconds, and also came first in the 50m butterfly competition in 35.32 seconds. Sindh’s Haseeb Tariq won the gold medal in the 50m backstroke event in 31.92 seconds.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2012.