LAHORE: The People’s Liberation Army (China) won all three top positions in the combat efficiency test (CET) category of the First International PACES Competition-2016 held at the Mehfooz Shaheed Garrison here on Saturday.

The CET was the ultimate test of endurance and agility of soldiers belonging to 14 countries which was not only the essence but was the most interesting category contested in the whole event.

The competitors were given a grueling task to reach and hit the target, covering a 165 square meter area, in the shortest possible time.

From the starting point to the end the soldiers were required to pass through 11 different obstacles, including a zigzag run, jumping a nine meter ditch, causality lifting to a safe place, crawling through a 20 inch high barred den, carrying an ammunition box, grabbing the weapon, lobbing a grenade to clear the area before firing five shots at the target.

Huang Lei completed the whole exercise in 50.40 seconds. He was followed by his teammate Sun Dongfeng who took 51.89 seconds. Third position also went to Chinese soldier Wang Jianhe who consumed 52.13 seconds.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2016