Central region dominate day two

Karachi Sindh Olympic Games features 800 athletes, 200 officials.

KARACHI: The Central region dominated the Karachi Sindh Olympics Games by garnering 206 points on Tuesday, while east region concluded the second day in second position with 137 points.

The Games are a trial event for the Provincial Games that will be held later this year, according to Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) Secretary Mudassir Arain, who disclosed that 800 athletes besides 200 officials are participating in the Karachi event.

Arain stated that the next trial games will take place in Hyderabad.

“These games are a rehearsal for the Sindh Games,” Arain told The Express Tribune. “We’ll go to all the major cities of the province, with Hyderabad being the next venue. Basically we wanted to hold the games in every city first to dig out the best local talent. It’s an exercise in promoting 16 Olympic disciplines at a grassroot level.”

Arain added that the players have performed well and the response has been an overwhelming one. According to him, other than holding the tournament, the SOA is providing athletes with Rs400 as allowance, while technical officials are being given Rs600.

The teams are divided into four regions including Central, East, South and West regions.

In Tuesday’s 22 events, Wazir Brohi won the road race cycling competition for the Central region, while South’s Muhammad Ali defeated East’s Shoaib Zaheer 3-0 and Shahzad Jan outplayed Shah Sultan of the West region in the 56kg boxing competition.

Waseem Ali also won his bout for the West against Central’s Muhammad Tanveer 2-1 and Abdul Basit defeated East’s Fida Jan 3-0 in the 52kg boxing event.

Central region dominate badminton event

The Central region was the dominant force in the both the men and women’s badminton competition.

The women’s team defeated East 2-0, while South outplayed West 2-0. In the men’s competition, Central outclassed South 2-0 and East beat West 2-0. Central also registered a win in the women football event, defeating East 3-0 while South thrashed West 7-0 in another match.

West’s Shah Nawaz clinched the gold medal in the 94kg weightlifting competition, while Arif Bota took the top place in the 76 kg event for East region.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2014.

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