Army tighten grip over 35th National Games with 71 golds

By Alam Zeb Safi
KARACHI: Army tightened its grip on the medals table at the 35th National Games on Tuesday extending their lead to 71 gold medals as athletes battled across multiple venues in Karachi.
Track and field events accounted for 12 gold medals on the day, with WAPDA’s Fatima Hussain opening the session by defending her title in the women’s javelin with a best throw of 42.38 metres. In the women’s discus throw, Army’s Faryal Farooq claimed gold with a record 38.21-metre effort while WAPDA’s Ishrat Fatima took silver and HEC’s Khadija finished third.
Army continued to dominate middle-distance running but WAPDA collected key victories in the women’s events. Faiqa Riaz captured the women’s 200 metres to secure her second gold of the Games and Erum Shehzadi of WAPDA won the 800 metres. WAPDA’s Musarrat Shaheen added another gold in the 400-metre hurdles while Army’s Muhammad Naeem took the men’s 110-metre hurdles.
Army’s Qasim Faiz won the men’s 20-kilometre race walk and WAPDA’s Amara secured the women’s 5-kilometre title. Army’s Asif topped the men’s pole vault and HEC’s Amat-ur-Rehman won the triple jump. Army’s Waqas Akbar prevailed in the men’s 800 metres.
Weightlifting opened at the Scout Headquarters with four women’s categories where Army won three gold medals through Nida Fatima (53kg), Arjumand Khan (58kg) and Noor Fatima (63kg). WAPDA’s Shafaq Waheed claimed the 48kg category gold.
HEC earned a fencing gold through Karima Parveen who beat teammate Feryal Shahid 15–13 in the final.
In wrestling, national star Inam Butt secured gold on the opening day while Junaid (WAPDA), Asadullah (Army) and Abdullah (Punjab) dominated their respective weight classes.
Army also swept both men’s and women’s squash team titles, defeating KP in the women’s final and WAPDA in the men’s.
Swimming saw Army extend their lead with five women’s gold medals while Sindh’s Hareem Malik earned the province’s only gold. Army also won five men’s swimming golds. Army increased their shooting gold tally to 11 while Navy climbed to nine.
Islamabad earned their first gold medal of the Games by defeating WAPDA in the women’s team tennis event. Army later beat WAPDA in the men’s final.
According to official statistics released by the Pakistan Olympic Association, Army remain firmly on top of the medal standings with 71 gold, 29 silver and 18 bronze medals. WAPDA trail second with 27 gold and Navy hold third position with 10. Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and HEC round out the top five.