LAHORE, Dec 26: Wapda’s athletes lit up the track and field with sensational performances on Wednesday to take their gold medal tally at the 32nd National Games to a whopping 90.
With major sides Pakistan Army, Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) opting to stay away from the national gala, Wapda have taken full advantage to stamp their supremacy.
Apart from the sporting activities, the media covering the event has complained about the lack of information provided to them by the organisers of the different disciplines with many of them not providing proper results to the media centre.
Wapda scooped seven of the eight gold medals on offer in athletics events on Wednesday with Mohammad Nawaz providing the highlight when he stormed to victory in the 110m hurdles in 14.87 seconds leaving Higher Education Commission’s Mohsin Naved and Pakistan Railways’ Usman in his wake after a burst of trailblazing speed.
Earlier, Habibullah started the gold rush when he took the hammer throw event by throwing it to a distance of 58.48 metres before Mohammad Ismail jumped 4.30 metres to take the gold in the pole-vault.
Mehdi Azeem Abbas won the 400m hurdles race before Ali Mehtab made it a clean sweep of the men’s finals on Wednesday when he won the discus throw with his throw covering a distance of 50.20 metres.
Pakistan’s ace long-distance women athlete Rabia Ashiq, who competed at the London Olympics, grabbed her second gold of the Games when she won the 1500m race before Kiran made it six golds when she took the honours in the 10,000m race.
It could have been eight for Wapda but Railways’ Abida won the women’s discus throw ahead of Kulsoom with a throw of 36.13 metres.
Wapda’s cyclists also continued their imperious form, grabbing two gold medals. Nisar Ahmed was a touch above the rest of his competitors when he won the 80km race in 1:57:32 while Raheela Bano proved too good for her rivals in the women’s 30km race as she covered the distance in 45:52seconds.
If the cyclists and track and field athletes were good, Wapda’s gymnasts too were a class ahead of their fellow competitors as they won all six gold medals on offer.
Mohammd Afzal had a spectacular double, winning the floor exercises and parallel bars and his team-mate Khurram Shehzad followed suit when he covered himself in glory after winning the high-bar and rings. Mohammad Yasir and Bakhtawar were Wapda’s other gold medallists.
In karate as well, there was no stopping Wapda as they grabbed 11 golds out of 13 at stake; seven in women’s events and four in men’s events.
Beenish Akbar (-50kg), Mehak Ikram (-55kg), Uzma Asghar (-61kg), Kulsoom Hazara (-68kg), Beenish Khan (+68kg) and Sohaila (individual kata) won their finals before Wapda’s women also took the team event.
Up-and-coming Saadi Abbas, who has performed admirably at the international circuit, won the -67kg final to kick-start Wapda’s golden run in the men’s category before Baz Muhammad (-75kg), Muhammad Ramzan (-84 kg) also triumphed and Wapda also finished top in the team kata.
The other two golds in karate went to Kyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Majid in the +84kg category while Balochistan’s Gul Zaman won the individual kata.
Wapda’s boxers impressed as well, winning seven golds with HEC and Sindh grabbing one each. They also dominated the Taekwondo event with four golds with HEC being able to grab just two.
Wapda had a 1-2 in the women’s doubles event of table tennis when Aisha and Ghazala beat team-mates Saadia and Louzia 3-2 in the final that went the full distance.
Wapda’s final gold of the day came when their women’s handball team defeated HEC in the final which was held in Faisalabad.
In women’s football, Zara Iqbal scored the winner as Punjab won the final after defeating Wapda 1-0. Punjab also grabbed two gold medals in wushu through Shams-ur-Rehman (52kg) and Kamran Khalid (75kg).
Wapda and Punjab, meanwhile, have qualified to the semi-finals in both the men’s and women’s team events of the squash championships.
The duo also lead the way in the wrestling event with many of their wrestlers making it to the finals.
