Karim impresses with top-15 finish

Pakistan skiers in search of Winter Olympics qualification.

KARACHI: Pakistan male skiers concluded their campaign at the International Ski Federation (FIS) races in Erzurum, Turkey on Tuesday, with teenager Muhammad Karim finishing among the top 15 athletes in the giant slalom event.

The Ski Federation of Pakistan (SFP) sent five athletes to compete in four races to earn the FIS points required to qualify for the Winter Olympics in Sochi next year.

The SFP will pick one male and one female athlete to represent the country in Russia depending on their points. The top two athletes will be selected on a quota-basis from each member country, but they must have a maximum of 140 points by January of next year to qualify.



On the closing day of the competition, Karim gave his best performance as he finished the last race in 13th spot out of 34 participants. He covered the first and second run in 56.85 and 57.63 seconds respectively to collect a total of 90.14 points.

Meanwhile, Mir Nawaz, who had already qualified for the Winter Olympics with 106 points earlier this year, secured 17th position in a minute and 56.41 seconds from two runs, while Muhammad Abbas concluded the race in 21st place in a minute and 56.79 seconds.

Earlier, Pakistan’s first winter Olympian Abbas finished the opening race in the giant slalom event on 14th position with 109.21 points.

The SFP had planned to send the athletes to Iran before the races in Turkey; however, they never got the chance to prepare further as the event in Iran was cancelled due to a lack of snow.

Pakistan’s female skiers and debutants, Amina Wali and Ifrah Wali also competed in the slalom and giant slalom events, but finished at the bottom of the table.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2013.

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