Liaqat Ali practises at the Sports Complex on Monday. —Photo by the reporter

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s fastest male athlete Liaqat Ali is hopeful of performing brilliantly in the IAAF World Championships in Beijing as well as the upcoming South Asian Games.

The national record holder in both 100 and 200 metres race, Liaqat is undergoing extensive training here at the Sports Complex and is confident about making his mark in the two events.

The IAAF World Championships will be held in Beijing, China from Aug 22-30 and Liaqat will participate in the 100 and 200 metre races besides the rally. He will leave for the Chinese capital on Thursday.

“Since the IAAF event is one of the biggest tournaments in the world, I am trying my level best to make a mark there,” said Liaqat. “However, since all of the world’s top athletes will be competing in it, I cannot say with authority whether I’ll be able to bring any laurel for the country. But the experience I will gain from the mega event will surely help me to win medals in the South Asian Games,” he added.

The sprinter further said that Pakistani athletes have the potential to defeat South Asian sprinters and they can better with high-level professional training under foreign coaches.

Meanwhile, Pakis­tan Athletics Federa­tion has set up a training camp here at the sports complex in which athletes are undergoing strenuous training sessions in preparation for the South Asian Games which are sated to be held in India in January 2016.

“So far, athletics, wushu, taekwondo and wrestling federations have set up their camps here while the remaining federations are in touch with us to hold their camps any time soon,” said Syed Habib Shah, Deputy Director General of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).

He said that apart from the sports complex in Islamabad, some federations have also set up their camps in other cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar.

Director National Sports Federation Azam Dar told Dawn that there is no delay on part of PSB for organising the training camps. “We are ready to facilitate all the federations and it is their responsibility to coordinate their affiliated units for setting up the camps as early as possible,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2015

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