PESHAWAR: Pakistan Army are cruising to retain the National Games trophy after bringing their outstanding medals tally to 140 gold, 116 silver and 76 bronze at the gala here at the Qayyum Sports Complex on Friday.

Wapda are second with 126 gold, 86 silver and 63 bronze medals.

On Friday, Army won the overall athletics trophy securing 870 points. They were followed by second-placed Wapda (828) and Pakistan Air Force (85) who remained third. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (76) earned fourth spot.

Army overall seized 19 gold medals, 21 silver and 19 bronze medals in athletics. Of these, six gold, seven silver and 11 bronze medals were clinched by Army women while their men won 13 gold, 14 silver and seven bronze. Second-placed Wapda in all have grabbed 22 gold, 19 silver and 11 bronze medals.

In women’s events, Wapda claimed 14 gold, 13 silver and three bronze medals while in men’s section Wapda earned eight gold, six silver and eight bronze. PAF got one gold, one silver and four bronze medals. They were followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (one silver and four bronze).

For her magnificent performance, Maria Maratab of Army was adjudged as the best athlete of the National Games. Maria, who captured four gold medals and a bronze to become the top athlete, also broke the record of 19-year-old national record set by Olympian Shabana Akhtar in heptathlon.

Wapda’s Najma Parveen is another star athlete of the ongoing National Games.

With four individual gold medals and one gold medal in the 4x400m relay while partnering Masarat Shaheen, Rabia and Asra, Najma so far has been the only player who claimed the distinguished feat of grabbing most gold medals in the event.Army won first position in gymnastics with 280.20 points. Wapda came second with 266.4 points and Railways third (204.225). In six events, Army claimed four gold and two silver, Wapda won two gold and four silver while Railways bagged three bronze medals.

Najma took a flying start at the ongoing National Games when she won her first gold in 400m clocking 53.63sec, which is a new record. She grabbed her second gold in 100m and in the process became the fastest athlete (clocking 11.87sec) of the Games. She won another gold medal (400m hurdles), clocking 1:01.27.

Najma won gold in the 4x400m relay to become the only player of the National Games to win three individugold in individual and one gold in team event. She also created another record in 200m by winning gold medal in a record time of 23.86sec — breaking the 24.36sec mark set by Army’s Sadaf Siddique.

Meanwhile, Army claimed eight gold medals, one silver and three bronze medals in the men and women judo events at the BISE Sports Complex in Abbottabad.

Army claimed gold in -50kg, open, -60kg, -66kg, -73 in the men’s events and -40, -44kg, open weight (women) and silver medal in -48kg (women).

Wapda won four gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Wapda’s men won gold in -55kg, -81kg (men), -48kg, -52kg (women) and silver medal in -71 (men) and -40 and -44kg (women).

Pakistan Navy earned third position with three silver and five bronze medals. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa got two bronze medals in Judo.

In the women’s hockey final, Wapda outclassed Army 8-1 while Railways defeated Punjab 2-0 in the third-position match.

Army defeated Punjab 4-2 in the men’s hockey semi-final. In the second semi-final, Wapda beat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 2-1.

Wapda’s Mohammad Afzal secured 72.55 points, and was declared the best gymnast of the National Games.

Army won gold medal defeating PAF 15-0 in the men’s rugby final while Wapda blanked Punjab 5-0 to claim third position. In women’s rugby final, Wapda beat Army 11-5 to win gold and Railways defeated KP 8-5.

In women’s boxing, Tajjla Noor of KP was beaten by Mehreen of Sindh in lightweight 64kg gold medal bout while in the middleweight 69kg category Punjab’s Tahira Warsi overcame Sania Saba of KP on points.

A dominant show by Wapda steered them to the table tennis title. They won five gold, four silver and one bronze medal. Second-placed Army had one gold, four silver and as many bronze. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa seized one gold and one bronze to clinch third spot.

Wapda and PAF reached the men’s volleyball final.

Also on Friday, Army stunned Wapda 3-0 in the women’s volleyball decider to end the latter’s 16-year dominance in the game.

Sindh women win throwball title Sindh women throwball team, displaying a high class game, outplayed strong Culligan team 2-1 to win the gold medal. KPK got the third position.

In the mens competition, the KPK team crushed Balochistan 2-0 to win the title. Sindh got the third position.

Secretary General PTF Maqbool Arain announced that men & women players will be selected keeping in view the performance in the National Games for the first South Asian Throwball Championship 2020 to be held in Nepal from March 20-24.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2019