PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa excelled of winning six gold medals, nine silver and six bronze medals in the National Youth and National Junior Athletic Championships recently concluded at Jinnah Sports Complex Islamabad.
This was stated by President KP Pakhtunkhwa Athletic Association and former gold medalist athlete Habib Ur Rehman Afridi while talking to APP here on Wednesday.
He said despite presence of giants teams like Pakistan Army, Pakistan Wapda, Railways, PAF, HEC, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa got prominent position by securing 322 points.
He lauded the performance of international coaches of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Syed Jaffar Shah, Zafran Afridi, and Jibran for their dedicated efforts in polishing the hidden talent of the athletes during a month long camp. He said the Association have meager resources but thanks to Engr. Saeed Mehmood, Chairman of the JS Athletic Academy and head of the MS Athletic Academy Muhammad Shah, a former international athlete for extending great support to the players. He said besides these teams, teams from Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan took part in the National Youth and National Junior Athletic Championships.
He said KP won four gold medals, one silver and two bronze medals in the Junior Category while two gold, eight silver and four bronze medals in the National Youth category.
He disclosed that promising athletic Abid Ali won gold medal in 400m and 400m hurdle. KP Usama got silver and Ihsan won bronze medal. In 400m race Bilal Asghar won silver and Ali of Sindh got bronze medal. In the shot put promising Zohaib won gold medal, Shahnawaz of HEC won silver, Nouman of Khyber Pakhtunkwha won bronze medal. In 4X400m relay KP won first position, followed by Punjab, and Railways got third position. In the 4X100m relay HEC won gold medal, KP and FATA won silver and bronze medals respectively.
In the Youth KP’s Aneeb Afridi won gold medal, Mujeeb won silver medal, and Muhammad Kashif won bronze medal. In the Javelin through Shahab of KP won gold, Paras Ahmad of KP won silver and Arbab Khan claimed bronze medals. In the 800m Paras John won gold medal, in 400m Hurdle Ahmad, Wajid in shot pur, Usama Nawaz in discus throw, Paras in 110m hurdle, Bilal in 200m, Paras John in 1500m, Abu Zar in Discus throw claimed bronze medals. He said the players of KP have brighten their chances of representing Pakistan in the forthcoming South Asian International Junior and Youth Athletic Championship to be played in India. He expressed the hope that the coaches would continue their hard work with the players. —APP
