LAHORE, Sept 21: Army with 191 points won the 44th national swimming championship at the Model Town Club pool Saturday.

Defending Champions since the last three decades, Army earned 15 gold and eight silver and bronze medals each to accumulate 191 points and retain the title.

Army’s Zulifqar Ali senior who gave his team five gold  medals out of total 15 that they won, was declared the best swimmer of the three-day event.

Zulfiqar grabbed four gold medals on the first two days and and added one more to his and Army’s credit clocking 1m.1.11secs in the 100m butterfly.

Wapda with 102 points came in second position. They bagged two gold  and  six silver and bronze medals each.

They won  both  the gold medals on final day to regain second position which they had lost to Navy Friday. Navy had to be content with third place

Faraz Ahmad of Wapda created a new record when he clocked 32.64 seconds to cover 50 metres distance in the breaststroke event.

He shattered the previous record of 33.32 secs held by Naseer Ahmad also of Wapda. Atif Khawaja earned second gold for Wapda when he was declared as joint winner with Muhammad Zahid (Navy) in the 100m backstroke event clocking 30.88 seconds.

                                                                                  Results:

100m freestyle: Muhammad Khan (Army) 57.36sec, Sikandar Khan (Punjab), Mehboob (Army).

50m breaststroke: Faraz Ahmad (Wapda) 32.64 (NR), Naseer Ahmad (Wapda), Munir Hussain (Army).

100m backstroke: Atif Khawaja (Wapda) and Muhammad Zahid joint winners 30.88 sec, Naseer Ahmed (Army).

100m butterfly: Zulifqar Ali Senior (Army), 1m. 1.11secs, A Gull (Navy), Faraz Ahmad (Wapda).

4x100mm freestyle: Army, 4m 10.33sec. Wapda, Navy.

POINT-TABLE:

Army 15-8-8-191, Wapda 2-6-6-102, Navy 3-4-4- 81, Punjab 0-1-0- 42, UGC 0-0-0- 06, PAF 0-0-0- 03.