Army retain Quaid-e-Azam trophy with 150 golds at National Games
PESHAWAR: Pakistan Army lifted the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for the 24th time when they secured 7909 points with 150 gold medals, 134 silver and 96 bronze medals at the 33rd National Games which concluded here on Saturday amid a colourful closing ceremony.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were awarded the fairplay trophy.
Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shah Farman was the chief guest on the occasion and awarded the Quaid-e-Azam trophy to Pakistan Army and fairplay trophy to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s two gold medallists Murad Ahmad (karate) and Murad Ali (badminton).
A total of 10,000 athletes from 14 different units of the country took part in the Games including Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force, Pakistan Navy, Punjab, Pakistan Police, Sindh, Balochistan, Wapda, Railways, HEC, Gilgit-Baltistan, Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and hosts Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Besides the governor, President Pakistan Olympic Association retired Lt Gen Arif Hassan, Secretary Khalid Mehmood, President KP Olympic Association Syed Aqil Shah, Secretary Sports Kamran Rehman, Director General Sports Asfandyar Khattak, Managing Director Tourism Corporation Junaid Khan, players and a large number of spectators were also present at the closing ceremony.
Stringent security measures were in place in and around the Qayyum Sports Complex during the ceremony.
KP take fairplay trophy
Wapda secured the second position with 7093 points when it grabbed 148 gold medals, 99 silver medals and 73 bronze medals. Pakistan Navy clinched the third position with 1770 points with 21 gold, 24 silver and 22 bronze medals. Pakistan Railways got the third position with 1815 points with 12 gold, 20 silver medals and 73 bronze medals. PAF got 1426 points with 11 gold, 16 silver and 31 bronze medals. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained at seventh with 1287 points, by grabbing two gold, five silver and 34 bronze medals. HEC with 11 gold medals, 11 silver and 38 bronze medals got 8th position.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won more medals and points than HEC in the National Games which is a huge achievement. HEC players have been on the points table before, but this time KP players performing 1285 points with ‘two gold’ five silver medals and 34 bronze medals.
The total cost of the Games was around Rs 220 million. The National Games were aimed to portray a soft image of the country as well as of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the world. “We are a peace loving nation and through these National Games, we are giving a message of peace to the rest of the world,” Governor Shah Farman said in his brief talk.
The action on Saturday saw various events contested here.
Basketball: In the men’s final, Pakistan Army defeated PAF 68-57 to win gold. In the third position clash, Wapda won the bronze by defeating Punjab 95-67. Wapda’s Zaman 22 and Punjab’s Adnan scored 25 points.
Army also won the women’s basketball gold when they beat Wapda 66-54. Punjab secured third position by beating Railways 50-36.
Volleyball: Wapda won the men’s volleyball title while Army clinched the women’s title here on Saturday. Army defeated Wapda 25-17, 25-17, 25-19 in the women’s final. In the third position match, HEC defeated Police 25-9, 25-20 and 25-19.
In the men’s volleyball final, Wapda beat PAF 29-13, 25-19, 25-21 and 25-19 to clinch gold medal. In the third position match, Army defeated Navy 33-31, 25-18, 21-25 and 25-16 to win bronze.
President Pakistan Volleyball Federation, Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqub and Former Deputy Director Sports retired Colonel Qaiser Mustafa distributed prizes among the players.