BAKU: Pakistan’s talented quartet of athletes Umar Sadat, Asad Iqbal, Nokar Hussain and Mahboob Ali earned a huge honour for Pakistan when they clinched a silver medal at the 4x400 metres relay race at the 4th Islamic solidarity Games here on Saturday.

Showing superb sprint skills and stamina, the foursome recorded an impressive time of 3:07:62 to earn the silver as they beat athletes from Oman, Bahrain, UAE in the contest. Turkey earned the gold as its quarter registered a winning time of 3:06:83.

In another big honour for Pakistan, wrestler Abdul Wahab defeated Saudi Arabia’s Ghawani Fahad Ali in the 61kg bout to clinch a bronze medal here on Saturday. Wahab was clearly the better wrestler, displaying superior range of techniques to overcome the Saudi wrestler on technical points.

In another freestyle wrestling event, Pakistan’s Mohammad Inam defeated Kyrgystan’s Usupov Saiakbai in the pre-quarters to enter the quarter-finals.

In the wushu competition, Pakistan’s Maaz Khan excelled in the 75kg pre-quarter-finals to beat Senegal’s Fal Mousa to enter the quarter-finals in style.

In the table tennis event, Pakistan were shocked by Saudi Arabia. Pakistan team comprising Asim Qureshi, Mohammad Rameez and Shujaat Ali could not match the fast paced game of their opponents and lost 3-0.

Pakistan’s total tally of medals now stand at eight including three silver and five bronze.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2017