KARACHI: Navy’s Shahbaz Masih won the marathon at the 54th National Athletics Championship on Saturday, covering 42km in 2 hours 48 minutes and 48 seconds as the championship moved into its penultimate day.
Shahbaz finished well clear of Sindh’s Raees Khaimar (2:55:26) and Pakistan Police’s Ahmed (2:58:23), with the gruelling distance capping a long morning on the roads of Karachi.
Later on the track, the championship’s two headline sprinters joined forces.
Shajar Abbas and Faiqa Riaz — winners of the men’s and women’s 100m on the opening day — combined with Nauman and Milhan to win the 4x100m mixed relay for Wapda in 44.50 seconds, ahead of HEC (45.91sec) and Navy (46.00sec).
Navy’s Amtul Rehman was the day’s outstanding individual, adding two more golds to take her tally to four for the championship.
She won the heptathlon with 3,608 points and the women’s triple jump with 11.77m, having earlier claimed the high jump.
The 25-year-old Amtul clinched the triple jump gold with a distance of 11.77m, ahead of Kinza Fatima (10.60m) and Punjab’s Dua Sohail (10.59m).
Wapda extended their lead at the top of the table, taking their overall gold tally to 16. Navy sat second with seven golds and HEC third with six.
Abubakar gave HEC the decathlon title with 5,294 points, ahead of Punjab’s Abdul Rehman (5,127) and Wapda’s Shoaib Khan (5,125).
Khubaib then made it a field double for HEC in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase, winning in 9min 41.16sec ahead of Wapda’s Mohammad Irfan (9:48.31) and Police’s Mubashar (10:03.77).
Kinza Fatima won the women’s 400m hurdles for HEC in 1min 05.40sec, ahead of Wapda’s duo of Musarrat Shaheen (1:09.90) and Javeria Khan (1:12.83).
Wapda’s Nazia won the women’s 800m in 2:25.10, with Nida Karim of HEC (2:26.31) taking silver and Wapda’s Rida (2:26.93) bronze.
In the men’s 400m hurdles, Hazrat Umar of Wapda took gold in 55.06sec, Faizan Khan of HEC silver (56.03s) and KP’s Mohammad Zaid bronze (57.60s).
Navy’s Abdullah Nawaz won the men’s discus throw with 51.05m, ahead of Wapda’s Usama (42.81m) and Wapda’s Ali Mehtab (41.57m).
The 4x400m mixed relay also went to Wapda, with Fouad, Zewar, Malaika and Rida combining for gold in 3:39.10, ahead of HEC (3:43.82) and Navy (3:52.16).
Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2026
