KARACHI: Wapda’s Maria Bibi broke the national 5,000m record on the final day of the 54th National Athletics Championship on Sunday, as Wapda sealed the overall title with 27 gold medals here at the NED University tartan track.

According to the Athletics Federation of Pakistan, Maria won the women’s 5,000m in 19min 02.00sec, breaking Rabia Ashiq’s national record of 19min 04.05sec set in 2012. Nazia Ehsan made it a Wapda one-two with silver in 19min 49.50sec, while Higher Education Commission’s Gonash Batool took bronze clocking 20min 10.80sec.

HAT-TRICK FOR SHAJAR

Shajar Abbas completed a hat-trick of golds, adding the men’s 200m title in 20.75 seconds to his 100m and 4x100m mixed relay wins. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Ataullah, who pushed him so close in the 100m, took silver again (20.90sec) with HEC’s Haseeb Ahmed (21.40sec) claiming third spot.

Wapda finished top overall with 27 golds. In the men’s competition they took 17 gold, five silver and five bronze medals, ahead of Navy (five gold, six silver, four bronze medals) and HEC (two gold, four silver, seven bronze medals).

In the women’s standings, Wapda claimed 10 gold, 11 silver and six bronze medals, with HEC second (six gold, seven silver, nine bronze medals, 260 points) and Sindh third (one gold, two silver, three bronze medals, 86 points). Navy were fourth with four gold medals and 73 points.

Navy’s Amtul Rehman finished with four gold medals, while Shajar took three for Wapda and Faiqa Riaz matched him with three of her own — the 100m and both 4x100m relays.

Khoula Omer Khan won the women’s 200m for the HEC in 24.80secs, with Sindh’s Iqra Riaz second (25.05sec) and Wapda’s Malaika Shehzadi third (26.00sec).

Shahswar won the men’s 800m for Wapda in 1min 52.01sec, with Punjab’s Maqsood second (1min 53.53sec) and HEC’s Usama Has­san third (1min 54.47sec).In the women’s hammer throw, Wapda’s Uzma Azam took gold with 41.82m, followed by HEC’s Maliha Saleem (35.59m) and HEC’s Khadija Mehreen (35.36m).

Navy won the men’s 4x100m relay in 42.00sec, with the HEC (42.05sec) clinching second spot and Punjab third (43.28sec).Faiqa led Wapda to women’s 4x100m relay gold, partnering Aniqa, Milhan and Malaika to the podium in 48.63sec, ahead of the HEC (50.19sec) and Sindh (52.25sec).

The men’s 4x400m relay produced an unusual finish. Wapda won gold in 3min 15.90sec, while Navy and Punjab both clocked 3:20.50 and were awarded joint silver. No bronze was awarded.

Usman Zafar won the men’s triple jump for Wapda with 15.39m, followed by Navy’s Ansar Abbas (15.29m) and Punjab’s Mohammad Irfan (13.98m).Dawood took the men’s hammer throw for Wapda with 52.45m, with team-mate Azhar Abbas second (51.01m) and HEC’s Daniyal Haider third (45.53m).In the women’s pole vault, Wapda’s Amina won gold with 2.85m, followed by team-mate Sajida Bibi (2.70m) and Madiha (2.60m) of the HEC.

Navy’s Usman Ghani won the men’s high jump with 1.96m, with both Wapda athletes Ali Ashraf and Ahmed clearing 1.93m — the jury separating them for silver and bronze on a specific angle difference.

Sohail Amir completed Wapda’s day with the men’s 5,000m in 15min 16.20sec, followed by Punjab’s Mohammad Zain (15min 34.01sec) and Ali Hassan (15min 45.30sec) of Navy.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2026