Last week the Sports Board Punjab honoured national powerlifting and weightlifting teams at a special function to appreciate their recent achievements in international events.

Sports board Director General Usman Anwar invited the national powerlifting men and women teams which had reached home after winning seven medals, including four gold medals in the Asian Bench Press Championships in Muscat, Oman. Souvenirs were awarded to the players, namely Twinkle Sohail (gold in 47kg class), Sonia Azmat (gold in 63kg), Shazia Butt (gold in open-weight event), Rashed Malik (gold in 105kg category), Mahmood Heera (silver in 120kg), Nadeem Hashmi (bronze in 105kg) and Sohail Butt (bronze in 93kg).

The sports board also welcomed the national senior weightlifting team, which won different medals in the Commonwealth Games Senior Weightlifting Championships held in Pune, India, last week. Usman Amjad Rathore won silver medal in 94kg category by lifting 317kg weight in total (including 142kg in snatch and 175kg in clean and jerk). Muhammad Saqib won gold medal in 77kg class. Nooh Dastgir Butt also earned gold medal in 105kg plus class in the junior section of the same event.

In a function to honour players, Lahore Regional Cricket Association (LRCA) president Khawaja Nadeem invited Lahore Blues for qualifying for the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy’s main round starting in the country from Oct 26. Lahore Blues, under the leadership of Saad Nasim, qualified for the main round while remaining unbeaten in their qualifying round. The performances saved the LRCA from further slur, as the region had earlier earned bad name when its Blues team failed to qualify for the last National T20 tournament. Only Lahore Whites could play in that event but now both Blues and Whites will feature in the first-class event of Quaid-i-Azam Trophy.

Besides the players, the team management headed by coach Sajjad Akbar also got the cash prizes.

World Martial Arts Council (WMAC) President Alan Foster visited Lahore last week. In a media chat, he disclosed the world body was planning to hold World Martial Arts Games in Pakistan in 2017. He expressed full satisfaction over the security situation in the country. He assured the world body was contacting all its 88 member countries to send their suggestions in hosting the event in Pakistan.

He also visited different departments of the Sports Board Punjab where he was briefed on the security arrangements

Four-day Punjab Open Golf Championships carrying a cash prize to the tune of Rs2.1million is ending at Defence Raya Golf and Country Club, here on Sunday.

Out of the total cash prize, Rs1,700,000 prizes are for professionals, Rs300,000 for senior professionals and Rs100,000 for junior professionals.

A total of 144 senior professionals, professionals and juniors and amateurs are contesting for the top positions. Imdad Hussain has already won the senior professional title which was one-day event and held on the first day. Professional golfers, namely Muhammad Munir, Muhammad Shabbir, Shahid Javed Khan, Matloob Ahmed, Hamza Amin and Waheed Baloch are making the event of a high-class.

The Punjab swimming team has left for Peshawar to take part in the 20th National Junior Age Group Swimming Championship which is in progress at Qayyum Sports Complex Peshawar.

Director Sports SBP Hafeez Bhatti and Punjab Swimming Association Secretary Azam Latif Qureshi saw off the young swimmers at National Hockey Stadium.

Published in Dawn, October 19th , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play