September 7, 2003	Sunday	Rajab 9, 1424

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PESHAWAR, Sept 6: Punjab-based Sikandar Khan established two new records on the second day of the 11th National Age Group Championship being played at the Qayyum Complex Swimming Pool Saturday.

The 16-year-old Sikandar, dominated the proceedings for the second consecutive day, as he broke the national record for the 100 meters freestyle (under-18) category by covering the distance in 00:57.63 seconds against 00:58.12 seconds established by Kamal Masud Butt in 1994 in Lahore.

He also established new record for the 400 meters individual medley (under-18) by swimming as fast as to cover the distance in 05:29.49 seconds against the previous record established by Fraz Samad way back in August 2000 in Lahore with the time of 05:38.38 seconds.

A class 10th student, Sikandar was way ahead of the second position-holders in the competition. In 100 meters freestyle (under-18) category, he was followed by Syed Usman Javid of Punjab with the time 01:00.84 seconds, whereas the third place went to Salman Ali of NWFP with the time of 01:10.91 seconds.

Mohammad Tahir (Sindh), Umesh (Sindh) and Khalid Rahim (NWFP) grabbed fourth, fifth and sixth place with the time of 01:12.59, 01:14.28 and 01:16.88 respectively.

Whereas in 400 meters individual (under-18) category Sikandar another irst place with 05:29.49 seconds, Usman Javid (Punjab) with time of 06:52.87 stood second and Mohammad Tahir and Sajjad Raza ( Sindh) remained third and fourth with the time of 07:38.25 and 08:13.46 seconds respectively.

Later Talking to Dawn, Sikandar who has established three national records since the start of the championship, said that he was eying a medal for the country in the next Olympic Games to be held in Athens Greece in the year 2004.

His father-cum-coach, Khalid Zaman, said he was proud of his son for having broken the records. He said that Sikandar being the national champion in under-18, was being given Rs 1500 by the Pakistan Sports Board, an amount too little to meet the expenses of the swimmers.

Swimmers needed compact dietary regime, which was not within the reach of the common people.

“We are spending Rs 30,000 on the upkeep of our son. As there is no government-owned swimming in Lahore, which has forced us to incur huge amount on the training of our son”, said Mr Zaman. Sikandar has already established a national record by winning nine gold medals in the inter- provincial championship that concluded last month.

Sikandar said that swimming was his family affairs, because her sister Kiran Khan grabbed two gold medals and six silver in Islamic Games held in Tehran. She assumed the title of Golden Girl when she grabbed seven gold medals in the 28th National Games.

Sikandar who started his training at the age of four years in the supervision of his father, lamented that the Pakistan Sports Board was adamant to recommend his name to the International Olympic Committee, which award $US 12,000 as scholarship to the outstanding swimmers to prepare themselves for the Olympic Games. Most of the India players are being trained through the same scholarship in Australia.

Other results are as follow: 200 Meters Freestyle (under-15) Ist Jawad Kamani Sindh 01:05.91 2nd Syed Mustafa Shah Punjab 01:07.02 3rd Mursil Mehmood Butt Punjab 01:11.00 4th Adnan Ismail Sindh 01:13.47 5th Imran Hashim NWFP 01:15.00 6th Zarar Rehman NWFP 01:16.19.

200 Meters Individual Medley (under-15) Ist Syed Mustafa Shah Punjab 02:47.60 2nd Jawad Kamani Sindh 02:48.86 3rd Salman Khan Punjab 02:58.27 4th Imran Hashmi NWFP 03:11.72 5th Shahwar Sindh 03:17.85.

200 Meters Backstroke (under-18) Ist Usman Javid Punjab 02:51.09 2nd Umesh Sindh 03:04:30 3rd Mubashir Ahmed Bajwa Punjab 03:13.61 4th Athar Farooq PAF 03:15.67 5th Fizan Khan NWFP 03:24.95 6th Salman Khan NWFP 03:25.38.