RAWALPINDI, Oct 18: Army maintained their ascendancy in the 38th National Athletics Championship, increasing their points tally to 84 as they won the steeplechase and the 200m sprint on a day that also saw POF’s Noshee Parveen setting a new record in the women’s triple jump event.
Army’s nearest rivals were Wapda who clinched a bronze in the 200m and javelin throw finals to finish the day with a total of 43 points in the championship that is being held at the Army Stadium.
On the women’s side, however, Wapda athletes led the table with an impressive 70 points having captured four gold, three silver and four bronze medals. Close on their heels were POF who had a points total of 65, mainly because of Noshee’s gold and Fouzia Aurangzeb who took the 100m hurdles crown.
In the men’s steeplechase final, Faiz Akbar of Army earned the gold clocking 9:14.0 sec while his team-mate Safdar Nazir came in a close second in a time of 9:14.6 sec. Navy’s Muhammad Amjad had to be content with a bronze and was home in 9:15.2 sec.
The day’s second gold for Army came in the 200m that saw a one-two finish for them, Afzal Baig touching the tape in 21.3 sec with Muhammad Ehsan following in 21.4 sec. Basit Munir, who was timed in 21.9 secs, won the bronze.
Army were ahead in the decathlon event with Muhammad Zaman accumulating 3387 points winning the long jump and shot put events while finishing second in high jump and 400m competitions. He was third in the 100m. The remaining five events are to take place on Sunday.
Zahid Hussain of Police earned his side their first gold medal in the championship throwing the javelin a good 70.77m to leave Army’s Muhammad Imran in second place hurling 66.39m. Wapda’s Irfan Hussain bagged the bronze as his javelin touched the 65.67 mark.
On the women’s side, the star of the day was indeed Noshee who went 11.33 metres shattering the record of 11.08m set by Erum Khanum at the last National Championship.
Another POF athlete Rozina Shafqat annexed the silver with a jump of 10.53m while Saira Fazal of Wapda took bronze.
Three events in the women’s heptathlon were also decided, Wapda’s Nasreen winning the 100m hurdles and Erum Khan of Police finishing on top in the shot put event. Railways Uzma Rani topped in the high jump competition.
On Sunday the 42.195km marathon will take place while the remaining decathlon and heptathlon events will also be decided besides other finals.
Results
(MEN):
Steeplechase final: Faiz Akbar (Army) 9:14.0, Safdar Nazir (Army) 9:14.6, Muhammad Amjad (Navy) 9:15.2
200m final: Afzal Baig (Army) 21.3, Muhammad Ehsan (Army) 21.4, Basit Munir (Wapda) 21.9
Javelin throw final: Zahid Hussain (Police) 70.77, Muhammad Imran (Army) 66.39, Irfan Hussain (Wapda) 65.67
Decathlon: 100m: Muhammad Ihtisham (Wapda) 11.16, Muhammad Irfan (Army) 11.60, Muhammad Zaman (Army) 11.71
Long jump: Muhammad Zaman (Army) 6.42, Shahzad Ahmed (Punjab) 6.38m, Muhammad Irfan (Army) 6.11
Shot out: Muhammad Zaman (Army) 11.75m, Mukhtar Hussain (police 10.35, Muhammad Ihtisham (Wapda) 9.30
High jump: Muhammad Irfan (Army) 1.71, Muhammad Zaman (Army) 1.65, Shahzad Ahmed (Punjab) 1.65
400m: Muhammad Irfan (Army) 52.82, Muhammad Zaman (Army) 53.50, Shahzad Ahmad (Punjab) 54.08
WOMEN:
Long jump final: Saira Fazal (Wapda) 5.13, Noshee Parveen (POF) 4.89, Rozina Shafqat (POF) 4.87
Discus throw final: Abida Jameel (Railways) 37.77, Fouzia Khatoon (Wapda) 34.43, Nazia Butt (POF) 33.55
100m hurdles final: Fouzia Aurangzeb (POF) 15.6, Sumera Tayyaba (Punjab) 18.2, Saira Bano (Wapda) 18.5
200m final: Saira Fazal (Wapda) 25.4, Bushra Parveen (POF) 25.9, Fouzia Aurangzeb (POF) 26.2
Triple jump final: Noshee Parveen (POF) 11.33m(NR), Rozina Shafqat (POF) 10.53, Saira Fazal (Wapda) 10.28
Heptathlon:
100m hurdles: Nasreen (Wapda) 18.34, Erum Khanum (Police) 18.73, Uzma Rani (Railways) 19.56
High Jump: Uzam Rani (Railways) 1.41, Nasreen (Wapda) 1.33, Yasra Abro (Railways) 1.21
Shot put: Erum Khanum (Police) 8.82, Uzma Rani (Railways) 8.23, Afshan (Punjab) 8.11 Medals and points table at the end of second day (read as gold, silver, bronze, points) Men Army 6-6-2-84, Wapda 0-2-3-43, Railways 0-0-1-14, Navy 0-0-2-12 Women Wapda 4-3-4-70, POF 3-5-4-65, Railways 2-0-1-45.