Army rule the roost at national judo
ISLAMABAD: Army excelled in the Men and Women National Judo Championships here at the Pakistan Sports Complex on Thursday.
On completion of the fourth day of the championships, Army judokas are leading the proceedings with 11 medals in men and women competitions.
Army are followed by Wapda with eight medals in both categories while the Higher Education Commission, who have earned six medals – three bronze each in men and women competitions -- are placed third.
On Thursday, in the men’s -73kg category, Imtiaz Hussain won gold for Army. Wapda’s Mohammad Umair claimed silver while bronze medal was shared by Railways’ Nazir and Hassan Butt.
In -100kg, Afzal Bashir of Army bagged gold after defeating Railways’ Abdul Hameed who was awarded silver. The bronze was shared by HEC’s Ufan Abdul Rehman and Police’s Mohammad Shafiq.
Meanwhile, in the women’s -48kg, Wapda’s Humaira won gold. Ayesha of Fata seized silver while Army’s Kanwal and Noorain of Sindh took bronze.
Wapda’s Maryam won the -52kg gold followed by HEC’s Naila Banoo (silver). Pamila Sherazi of Army and Saiqa Iqbal of the DHA, shared the bronze.
A total of 195 judokas from Army, Wapda, Railways, Police, HEC, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh Islamabad, Fata, DHA, Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan and Azad Kashmir are participating in the championships.
Retired Col Rana Shujaat Ali, president of the South Asian Judo Federation, vice-president of the Judo Union of Asia and member of the International Judo Federation Military and Police Commission, graced the occasion as chief guest and distributed medals amongst the contestants.
The championships conclude on Saturday.
Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2017