04 April 2004	Sunday	13 Safar 1425

ISLAMABAD, April 3: Pakistani runner Allah Ditta gave Pakistan their second track gold in two days, storming home in the 400m hurdles in a time of 51.15 on another encouraging day in athletics that also yielded two silver and four bronze medals.

Ditta followed up the good work done by Noushad Khan who had pocketed the 5000m gold on Friday, to leave behind Sri Lanka's Arijan Ratnayak and countryman Muhammad Adil in an exciting finish at Jinnah Stadium.

It was a flawless effort by the 26-year-old Ditta, who told Dawn that he was always confident of striking gold. "I am glad that I have been able to achieve what I had wanted, it makes me very happy to have achieved the honour for my country."

Ditta, a silver medallist at Kathmandu in 1999 said that he was expecting a one-two finish for Pakistan in this race but pointed out that Adil was slow off the starting block and because of which he finished third.

Ratnayak, clocked 51.31 for the silver while Adil had a time of 52.15 in the competition that was watched by a fairly large and appreciative crowd.

The hosts also had success in the weightlifting competitions at the Aabpara Community Centre, winning both the gold medals at stake on a day a number of South Asian records were broken, 10 alone in the 85kgs category.

Shujauddin Malik, stood tall by annexing the 85kgs crown with a total of 352.5kgs defeating his Indian rival Santhil Kumar Gopal Roy who totaled 322.5kgs. Upal Bandara Jayasinghe took third place with 260kgs.

The day's second gold came from Hassan Aslam in the 94kgs category who edged India's Sukhinder Singh (332.5) with a total of 337.5kgs. Bidud Kumar of Bangladesh won the bronze.

In this event too, both the Pakistani and Indian lifters established a number of records.

Back on the tracks, Rohan Pradeep of Sri Lanka outran Pakistan's Imran Tahir for gold in the 200m sprint, clocking 20.99 with the home athlete crossing the finish in a time of 21.24. Piyush Kumar of India claimed the bronze in 21.35 sec.

Sri Lankans Susanthika and Sujani Buddika were the proud winners of the gold and silver respectively in women's 200m sprint in which the bronze went to India's Poonam Tomer.

Susanthika needed 23.49 seconds to zoom past the finish while Buddika followed in 24.31. Poonam's time was 24.76.

Pakistan had a bronze in 800m through Irshad Afzal who finished behind gold winner Mohammad Sifrath (1:51.60) of Sri Lanka and second-placed Indian Ghamanda Ram (1:52.21) by timing 1:52.24.

A bronze was also won in the women's event over the same distance, Gulnaz Ara clocking 2:09.49 in a race clinched by India's Madhuri Singh in 2:07.61 with Sri Lanka's Mangala earning the silver in a time of 2:07.84.

There was a silver medal for the home side in the triple jump competition where Zafar Iqbal leapt 15.79, his attempt being inferior than India's Amarjeet Singh (16.16). KC Saintison, another Indian went 15.69 for the bronze.

The women's discus throw witnessed a one-two finish for India, Seema Antil throwing the iron to a distance of 57.03, Krishna took the silver with an attempt of 49.17 and Sri Lanka's Padmanandani was third with 42.31.

India also captured gold and silver in the men's discus throw where Hirdayanand went 53.77 to secure first position while Sukhbir Singh was second with 53.55. Pakistan's Azhar Saleem (51.35) took the bronze.

The swimming competitions featured three new records, two of them going in 4x100m freestyle relay and 100m freestyle events and the third being bettered in the 100m butterfly competition.

The Indian team of Rahul Batra, Amar Muralidharan, Benoy Sebastian and TA Sujith clocked 3:39.40 in the 4x100 relay to cancel out the record of 03:40.73 set by their compatriots at Kathmandu Games.

The Bangladeshi quartet of Haran-ur-Rashid, Atiqur Rahman, Jewel Ahmed and Kazi Moniurul Islam took the silver medal in 03:44.84 followed by Sri Lanka who were timed in 03:46.08 for the bronze.

Sujhit, member of the Indian relay squad, also earned an individual honour by winning the 100m freestyle gold and setting a new Games mark. His time of 00:53.53 erased the previous record of 00:53.95 established by his countryman in 1995 at Chennai.

The silver went to Rahul Batra who was home in 00:54.67 with Sri Lankan Arun Karunaratne claiming the bronze in 00:55.23. The other record created was by Sri Lanka's Conrad Anthony Francis whose 100m butterfly swim in 00:56.35 shattered Indian K.Suresh Kumar's mark of 00:58.43 also set at Chennai.

Conrad's gold left Jewel Ahmed of Bangladesh with a silver as he timed 00:57.90 while Ali Akbar Mir, another Indian, grabbed the bronze finishing in 00:59.01.

The 100m backstroke honours went to Bangladesh's Mohammad Rubel Rana who finished the race in a time of 01:02.78 as Dipes Bairagi of India (01:03.43) and Pakistan's Faiz Muhammad (01:04.82) came in second and third respectively.

In shooting, India's hold remained impregnable, Sushma Rana picking up a gold in the women's 25m sports pistol event with a total of 571. Sri Lanka landed a silver through KGN Perara (557) and the host nation's Farhat Nasreen bagged a bronze, totalling 556.

The team title was also captured by India, their team of Sushma Rana, Shewta Chaudhry and Saroja Kumari Juthu accumulating a score of 1669 for gold.

That left the Sri Lanka trio of KGN Perara, Shyamalie Weijesooriya and Ruwini Abemanna content with a silver, having collected 1644 points. The home team of Farhat Nasreen, Azra Nazir and Shugufta Zulfiqar came in third with a total of 1629.

Indian Satgurdass collected a gold in the 50m small bore free rifle event with a total of 689.5 just ahead of Pakistan's Waseem, whose effort of 687.5 yielded a silver medal. Bangladesh's MN Taufick finished third with 682.4.

The Indian squad of Satguru, Fariduddin and TC Palanggapa won the team gold, scoring 1742 followed by Pakistan's Waseem, MA Tahir and Dawood Jan, whose attempt of 1730 was worth a silver.

Bangladesh took third place, MNT Shahrear, Anwar uz Zamam and MD Shoyeb collecting 1722 points.

So strong has been India's hold in shooting that they have won 18 out of 20 events contested so far at the new shooting range in the premises of Pakistan Sports Complex.

Medals table (read as gold, silver, bronze, total):

India          57   23   15   95



Pakistan       22   33   23   78



Sri Lanka       7   18   27   52



Bangladesh      3   11   15   29



Nepal           2    3   11   16



Afghanistan     0    2   16   18



Bhutan          0    1    1    2



Maldives        0    0    0    0