PESHAWAR: Junior athletes hogged the limelight with their breathtaking display at the Pakistan Sports Board Inter-Provincial Athletics Champion­ship contested here at the Qayyum Sports Complex on Wednesday with Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab young guns excelling in both track and field events.

For the first time in the history of junior athletics in the under-16 girls and under-17 boys categories, the best national athlete trophies were picked up by two young athletes from Sindh. A few months short of his 16th birthday, Abdul Moeed, a rising track star from Karachi, picked up three gold medals in 200m, 400m and high jump to win the keenly contested award. Moeed clocked 22.7 seconds and 50.8 seconds respectively in the two sprints and cleared 5’4’’ in high jump to complete an excellent show on the final day.

Among the girls competition, the 12-year-old Hiba Khurshid repeated the sprint double in 100m and 200m and won the long jump event to pick up three gold medals and bag the best athlete trophy in the girls category.

Haseena of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also played a key role in her team second position as she won gold medal in shot put, silver medal in 100m, 200 and 400m while bronze medal in discuss throw.

Moeed, Hiba crowned best junior athletes

In the boys’ competitions, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa secured 71 points and got the overall winners trophy, followed by Punjab with 65 points and Sindh (45 points).

In the girls’ event, Punjab secured 75 points and grabbed the overall trophy, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 65 points. Sindh finished third with 34 points.

In the boys’ javelin throw, Shoaib Khan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won gold, followed by Abdul Noor of Balochistan (silver) and Paras Ahmad of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (bronze).

Members of Sindh track and field squad pose for a group photo after their fine show.—photo by Jawwad Farid

In the high jump, Abdul Moeed of Sindh won gold, followed by Mudassir Mushtaq of Punjab (silver) and Paras Ahmad of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who took bronze medal.

At the end, ex-director general sports Manaazullah Khan, the chief guest, gave away the cash prizes and the trophies.

International coach Jaffar Shah, Zafran Khan, Amir Zahir Shah and Syed Saqlain Shah were also present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2015

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