April 21, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1429

PESHAWAR, April 20: Athletes of the Federal Areas (FA) excelled on the opening day of the second National Paralympics Games at the Qayum Sports Complex here on Sunday.

A contingent of 60 members including 15 female players from Punjab, 35 members including 15 females from Sindh, 40 including 15 female from FA and a contingent of 70 players including 30 females from the NWFP are taking part in the event.

In the T-12 100m category (male), Ali Gohar clinched the gold medal by completing the race in 13.33 seconds, followed by Abdul Waheed (14.19 sec) and Mohammad Zeeshan (15 sec) also from the FA.

After thumping performance by the FA athletes in the Cerebral Paralyze category, Raheel of the NWFP won gold medal in the long jump with 4.42-metre distance, followed by Mohammad Ali of Punjab with 4.40m and Nasrullah of the NWFP with 4.29m.

In the Blind Shot Put (female) category, Imrana Hanif of the NWFP recorded gold medal with a distance of 5.93 meters, followed by Razwana Bibi of the FA and Bushra Jan of Punjab.

There were mixed athletics competitions and all the female and male athletes competed in different classified categories.

It was Wheel Chair Shot Put in which Punjab’s Mohammad Azad won the gold medal by clearing the distance of 7.53 meters, followed by Ihsanullah (NWFP) with 6.79m and Asadullah with 6.77m.

In the 400m Physical Handicap (upper category), Mohammad Shafiq of Punjab with his 55.69 sec time won gold medal, followed by Nisar Alam (NWFP) with 1.03 sec and Akbar Nawaz of Punjab with 1.04 sec.

In the Cerebral Paralyze (CP) children category, Sindh swept the way for gold, silver and bronze medals when Mehvish, Bushra Rajpoot and Aqla won all three medals in the 50m.—APP