Youth festival: Punjab University takes women’s hockey title

Kinnaird and LCWU bag inter-division basketball college and university titles.

LAHORE:

Hockey, taekwondo, basketball, football and athletics competitions were held as part of the inter-division games of the Punjab Youth Festival on Wednesday.

Lahore defeated Multan 2-0 in the women’s hockey title.

In college hockey games, Punjab University beat the University of Sargodha 4-0. Asma Ashraf of the Punjab University secured two goals. Bushra and Munazza scored one goal each.

In university-level women taekwondo competitions, Saira Sultan took the gold medal in 48 kg category. Madiha Batool of Sargodha University took the silver medal.

The 52 kg category gold went to Aqsa Shafaat of Faisalabad University while Irum Ramazan of Islamia University Bahawalpur won the silver medal.

The 58 kg category gold was won by Noor Asif of the Punjab University while silver was secured by Saima of Faisalabad University.



In men’s taekwondo events, Muhammad Shahrukh of the Institute of South Punjab won gold in 55 kg category, Azhar Hussain of Islamia University of Bahawalpur clinched gold in 65 kg category while 69 kg category gold went to Faheem Khan of the Punjab University.

In the volleyball game, Faisalabad defeated Lahore 2-0. Amna Zafar was declared the best player of the tournament.

Kinnaird College and Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) won the inter-division basketball college and university level titles.

MPA Khawaja Imran Nazir distributed prizes among the winners.

In the final match of college girls’ basketball, Kinnaird College, representing Lahore, beat Sargodha 74-5.

Mehrunissa Khan scored 32 points. Amna Mukhtar scored 18 points, Dania 14 and Khadeeja Mukhtar scored 10 points.

LCWU, which represented Lahore in university girls’ basketball, beat Sargodha by 18-10 in the title clash.

Asma Akram and Sana Azmat scored six and five points each for the victorious team.

The open football event was won by Faisalabad, defeating Lahore 4-3.

The final of the university football event was won by Lahore against Sargodha. The college football title also went to Lahore’s team that won against Gujranwala 2-0.

The touchball event title went to Faisalabad’s team playing against Lahore. Bahawalpur defeated Multan to land the third position.

Indian delegation leaves

The 70-member Indian contingent returned home on Wednesday after participating in the Pakistan-India Punjab Games.

Officials of the Punjab Sports Board saw off the guest delegation at the Wagah border.

Indian athletes had featured in arm-wrestling, kabaddi, tug-of-war, wrestling and weightlifting contests.

The women team took the honours in the kabaddi title clash.

Talking to newsmen at the border, Indian players said the experience had been “remarkable.”

Head of Indian contingent Arvinder Singh said, “The love and respect we received during our stay in Pakistan cannot be described in words. The hospitality of Lahorites was unforgettable.”

Indian athletes Sakhwinder Singh, Sandeep Singh, Karmeet Singh, Satnam Singh and Dharminder Singh said they were happy to have won the hearts of people, if not the kabbadi title, during their stay in Pakistan.

Indian players Anu Rani, Mandeep Kaur, Priyanka Devi were quite satisfied about their visit to the country.

“It’s like our home town,” they said. “There is no difference between Lahore and Chandigarh. We want to play again on Pakistani soil,” they said. Earlier, a dinner was arranged in honour of the Indian delegation. Sports Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan and Sports Board Director General Usman Anwar were also present.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2014.