National Games 2019: Wapda’s Najma smashes 400m hurdles record

Army contingent maintain supremacy

By Alam Zeb Safi

PESHAWAR: On a perfect day of the 33rd National Games Army continued to impress in various disciplines as their gold-tally swelled to 73 while Wapda were trailing second with 50 gold medals here at Qayyum Sports Complex in Peshawar on Tuesday.

As per unofficial statistics, Army also took their silver-medal tally to 56 besides having taken 29 bronze to maintain overall lead in the biennial spectacle which will conclude on November 16.

Wapda were trailing at the second spot with 50 gold, 50 silver and 30 bronze medals. Navy were at the third place with 11 gold, 16 silvers and eight bronze medals till filing of the story. The events at various centres were still in progress till filing of the report. As per medal-tally in the men’s section Army with 308.5 points were leading with 11 gold, six silvers and two bronze.

They were followed by Wapda with 115 points which they earned by virtue of four gold, four silvers and four bronze. Sindh, with 57 points, trailed third with one silver and two bronze. Punjab had got three bronze.

Similarly Army also were leading the women section with 281.5 points which they got by virtue of ten gold, two silvers and two bronze. Wapda (212 points) were trailing second with three gold, eight silvers and four bronze. Sindh got three silvers and four bronze while Punjab and Navy claimed one bronze each.

Meanwhile Army were leading the men’s and Wapda had an upper hand in the women’s section of the athletics competitions on the third day of the National Games which also saw Wapda’s Najma Parveen smashing 400m hurdles record, the sixth in the slots so far.

In the men’s section Army were leading with 149 points which they had achieved by virtue of four gold, five silver and four bronze. Wapda trailed second with 79 points which they got through lifting three gold and two silvers. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) were at the third spot with two bronze. Navy and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) took one bronze each.

In the women’s section Wapda led the chart with 236 points which they got through six gold, nine silvers and one bronze. Army were the second spot with 176 points which they secured by virtue of four gold, one silver and nine bronze medals. Higher Education Commission (HEC) got one gold and one silver while Punjab and KP claimed one bronze each. The event will conclude on Thursday (tomorrow).

The major aspect of the day’s events was Wapda’s Najma Parveen’s 400m hurdles record which she inked by covering the required distance in 1:01.41. She broke the record of Nadia Nazir of Wapda who had died in a road accident a few years ago. Musarrat Shaheen of Wapda claimed silver in the same event with 1:06.38 and Tehram Alam claimed bronze with 1:09.30.

As per detail on the second day of the athletics men’s events pole vault competitions Jaffar Ashraf of Army lifted gold with 4.50m, Gul Faraz of Army secured silver with 4:40 and Mohammad Asif of PAF finished with a bronze with 4:20.

In 10,000m Sohail Amir of Wapda claimed gold with 31:05.86, Atiq-ur-Rehman of Army grabbed silver with 32:22.75 and Ali Hasan of Navy claimed bronze with 32:54.34.

Olympian Mehboob Ali of Army claimed gold in 400m hurdles by clocking 50.67 seconds of timing. Army’s Nishat Ali claimed silver with 51.94 and Adeel Ahmed of WAPDA picked bronze with 52.78.

In long jump Maria Maratab of Army picked gold with 5.48 metre, Faiqa Riaz of HEC secured silver with 4.96 while Amna Siraj of WAPDA got bronze with 4.83.

In shot put Zeenat Parveen of Wapda picked gold with 11.72, Rimsha Khan of Wapda got silver with 10.58 while Nabeela Kausar of Army clinched bronze with 10.07.

Anila Gulzar of Army won the 800m title with 2:12.68, seasoned Rabia Ashiq of Wapda picked silver with 2:17.12 and Rabeela Farooq of Army got bronze with 2:26.90.

The high jump gold went to Rubab Munir of HEC with 1.55 metre, Naureen Fatima of WAPDA got silver with 1.48m and Maria Maratab of Army clinched bronze with 1.48.