Nawaz qualifies for Winter Olympics

Abbas, Karim fail to earn required points during ski championships.

KARACHI: Mir Nawaz emerged as the only Pakistan skier to qualify for next year’s Winter Olympics to take place in Sochi, Russia after he gained the minimum number of points to guarantee himself a place at the event.

2010 Winter Olympics participant Muhammad Abbas and Muhammad Karim, however, failed to book a place after failing to register the required number of points after five events in Austria, Italy, Turkey and Lebanon in Slalom and Giant Slalom disciplines.

The Ski Federation of Pakistan (SFP) sent the three skiers to participate in the International Ski Federation Championships that are taking place in Europe and Asia as a prelude to next year’s Winter Games. The goal for the team was to gather at least 140 points from the events in order to qualify for the Olympics.

Meanwhile, Pakistani skiers faced a slow start in Austria and Italy where all three skiers finished at the bottom half of the list among 70 skiers.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2013.