Wapda claim road cycling golds at Games
0
QUETTA: Wapda won gold medal in both men’s and women’s road cycling event of the National Games held in Lahore on Wednesday.
On the women’s side, Anam (Wapda) took gold followed by Army’s Tayyaba (silver), and Wapda’s Razia (bronze).
However, Army with six gold medals lead the overall medals table at the national gala, followed by Navy (four golds, five silver, four bronze) while Wapda are third (four golds, one bronze).
In the men’s road race, Sabir of Wapda claimed gold, Bilal (Army) got silver and Railways’ Zohaib earned bronze.
In the badminton event, Murad Ali, Shoaib Riaz, Anjum Bashir and Irfan Saeed qualified for the men’s singles semi-finals in Quetta.
Murad of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa defeated bt HEC’s Tayyab Shafiq 21-8, 19-21, 21-14; Army’s Shoaib defeated Muqeet Tahir of Wapda 21-17, 17-21, 21-18; Anjum of Army outplayed Umer Jahanghir 21-16, 21-3 and Wapda’s Irfan downed Abuzar Rasheed of Punjab 21-17, 21-19 in the quarter-finals.
In the women’s singles quarter-finals, Ghazala Siddique, Mahoor Shahzad both of Pakistan Wapda, Punjab’s Zubaira Islam and Rosheen Ijaz of Sindh made the last-four stage.
Ghazala overcame Ammarah Ishtiaq of Army 19-21, 21-11, 21-16; Zubaira outgunned Zainab Azam of the HEC 21-10, 21-15; Rosheen outclassed Army’s Alja Tariq 21-9, 21-7 while Mahoor routed Seher Majeed of the HEC 21-2, 21-3.
Raja Hasnain and Raja Zulqarnain (Army), Irfan Saeed and Azeem Sarwar (Wapda), Anjum Bashir and Yasir Ali (Army) and the duo of M. Ali Larosh and Awais Zahid (Wapda) qualified for the men’s doubles semi-finals.
Hasnain and Zulqarnain defeated KP’s Murad Ali and Fazal Rehman 21-15, 21-13; Irfan and Azeem beat the Punjab pair of Shahzaib Shabbir Abdul Manan 21-14, 21-12; Anjum and Yasir downed Danyal Shahzad and Umer Jahanghir of KP 21-8, 21-15 while M. Ali and Awais edged out the HEC’s pair of Amraiz Khalid and Aashan Tanveer 21-17, 22-20.
In the women’s doubles, Wapda’s Mahoor Shahzad-Ghazala Siddique duo, Umama Usman and Manal Tariq of Army, Ammarah Ishtiaq and Alja Tariq of Army, and Wapda’s pair of Saima Waqas and Khizra Rasheed reached the women’s doubles last four.
In the quarter-finals, Mahoor and Ghazala won against HEC’s Faryal and Khadija Nasir 21-8, 21-13 while Army’s Umama and Manal Tariq were declared winners against the Sindh duo of Rosheen Ijaz and Maryam Awan. The former pair were leading 5-4 when Maryam retired hurt. Ammarah and Alja overwhelmed Punjab’s Zubaira Islam and Kanz-ul-Eman 23-21, 21-11 and the Saima-Khizra pair flattened KP’s Noor and Iqra 21-5, 21-6.
Meanwhile, M. Ali Larosh and Ghazala Siddique (Wapda), Shoaib Riaz and Manal Tariq (Army), Abuzar Rasheed and Zubaira Islam (Punjab) and Raja Hasnain and Ammarah Ishtiaq (Army) qualified for the mixed doubles semi-finals.
Ali and Ghazala Siddique won against HEC’s Jalees Khan and Zainab Azam 21-10, 21-14; Shoaib and Manal defeated Punjab’s Abdul Manan and Kanz-ul-Eman 21-17, 21-15;
Abuzar and Zubaira beat Azeem Sarwar and Saima Waqas (Wapda) 16-21, 21-18, 21-16; while Hasnain and Ammarah bt Ashan Tanveer and Kainaat Raees of the HEC 21-13, 21-11.
In handball, Wapda and Army reached both men’s and Women’s finals.
Army defeated Punjab 40-26 while Wapda defeated the HEC 49-28 in the men’s semi-finals.
On the women’s side, Army outplayed the HEC 39-18 while Wapda trounced Punjab 42-9 in the last-four matches.
The men’s rugby sevens tournament of the National Games kicked off with Army recording two victories. They thumped Sindh 44-0 before beating the HEC 7-0.
In other matches, Wapda edged PAF 26-17, the HEC thrashed KP 24-0, Punjab beat Balochistan 17-7 and PAF won 12-5 against Balochistan.
In the women’s volleyball event, Wapda crushed KP 25-7, 25-7, 25-16 in pool ‘A’ while Army beat the HEC 25-14, 25-9, 26-24 to secure top spot in pool ‘B’.
Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2023
