QUETTA: Making his competitive return after surgeries on his throwing elbow and knee, Arshad Nadeem showed that he’s still top of his game.

The 26-year-old, who smashed the javelin throw record at last year’s Commonwealth Games, found the distance to clinch gold at the National Games with ease here at the Ayub Stadium on Saturday.

He didn’t come close to matching his monstrous 90.18-metre throw at the Commonwealths in Birmingham but landing the javelin 78.02 metres was enough for victory with Arshad’s Wapda team-mate Mohammad Yasir taking silver with 77.50.

Arshad’s gold was one of three collected in track and field by Wapda on the day, with their arch-rivals Pakistan Army claiming four and Higher Education Commission taking the other two.

Wrestler Mohammad Inam, a former Commonwealth gold medallist, delivered more glory for Wapda on the mat with team-mate Zaman Anwar also bagging gold.

Army also ruled the pool, claiming 11 out of 14 on offer at the Punjab International Swimming Complex in Lahore with Syed Mohammad Haseeb Tariq and Bisma Khan winning two each and the former setting a national record

It was Arshad, though, who headlined Saturday’s programme.

“I came here to win the gold ... that was the aim. It’s good to win the first event on your comeback,” said Arshad, who is Pakistan’s leading medal hope at next year’s Olympics in Paris.

Army won the other three men’s events on the track with Uzair Rehman claiming the 400m gold with a time of 46.70 seconds, just 0.10 ahead of second-placed Abdul Mueed of Pakistan Air Force.

Waqas Akbar took gold in the 800m, clocking 1:54.50 to finish ahead of Wapda’s Zaiwar Shah (1:55.30), while Qasim Faiz proved his stamina in the 20km racewalk, covering the distance in 1:55:54.40.

The other gold for Army in athletics came in the women’s 1500m with Rabeela Farooq clocking 5:21.9 to win by just under nine seconds from Wapda’s Farhat Bano.

Wapda sprinter Isha Imran and Milhan Imtiaz finished one-two in the 200m; Isha finishing in 23.3 seconds.

There was another Wapda one-two in the 100m hurdles with Ghazala Ramzan (14.7) scooping gold ahead of Arooj Kiran (15.8).

HEC’s Amtul (5.41 metres) edged Wapda’s Falika Riaz by one centimetre to win the long jump gold while her team-mate Uzma won the hammer throw with a distance of 40.01 metres.

Unlike Arshad, Inam was unable to clinch gold at the Commonwealths last year but the two-time former champion won the 92kg wrestling final when he beat Haider Ali ofPakistan Railways at the Boys Scout Club.

Zaman then downed Army’s Awais to clinch gold in the 125kg competition. Punjab’s Abdullah won the 65kg final against Mohammad Qurban of Railways.

Army’s women weightlifters, though, trumped Wapda with three golds to two at the Noori Naseer Khan Complex Hall.

Nida Fatima won the 55kg event with Khadeeja Waheed and Sonia Azman winning competitions in the 64kg and 76kg categories repectively.

Wapda’s golds came through Shafiqa Waheed and Veronika Sohail, in the 49kg and 59kg events respectively.

It meant Army stayed top of the medals table, extending their gold-leading tally to 140 with Wapda second on 75 but well ahead of Pakistan Navy, who are third on 28.

HASEEB SMASHES NATIONAL RECORD

Over in the pool, Haseeb began the men’s swimming programme on Saturday by winning the 100m backstroke in 1:01.47 before he set the national record in the 50m freestyle. He clocked 24.43 to finish ahead of team-mate Mohammad Ahmed Durrani.

Army also had one-two finished in the 200m free, won by Ahmed in 1:58.96, and the 100m butterfly, won by Azhar Abbas in 59.66 ahead of Ahmed.

Another Army victory came when Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui finished first in the 800m free in a time of 9:15.27 while they also won the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay.

Wapda’s lone gold in the pool on Saturday came through Daniyal Ghulam Nabi, who won the 50m breaststroke in 31.75 seconds.

Army’s female swimmers also made a splash, claiming five out of seven golds including the 4x200m freestyle relay.

Bismah won the 50m free in 28.37 seconds and the 200m free in 2:25.87, while Ameena Ameer Qadri, who finished third in the 50m free, won the 100m butterfly ahead of team-mate Kiran Khan in 1:18.27 and Fatima Lotia (1:16.19) topped the timesheets in the 100m backstroke.

Sindh won the other two golds as Meher Maqbool showed her endurance to prevail in the 800m free, clocking 11:06.84, while Hareem Malik timed 36.22 seconds to win the 50m breastroke.

Back in Quetta, Army won the women’s table tennis team event at the Ayub Sports Complex with a 3-0 win over Wapda in the final.

Haiqa Hassan set the tempo with a 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 win over Perniya Khan before Hoor Fawad downed Aisha Sharjeel 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 before Sana Muzaffar sealed gold when she overcame Sadia Falak 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8.

Another victory for Army over Wapda came in the men’s basketball final; Tuglab starring with 18 points to lead his side to a comprehensive 90-60 win.

Army already have one gold in the bag in the archery competition while they will meet opponents Wapda in four other finals.

Army’s Iqra Farooq and Umme Kulsoom will meet in the women’s individual recurve final while Army’s Idrees Majeed faces Wapda’s Noman Saqib for the men’s individual gold.

Archers from Army and Wapda also face off in the finals of the men’s, women’s and mixed team events.

Wapda, meanwhile, closed the karate programme with golds in both the men’s and women’s team kumite.

Wapda’s Mohyammad Wawis, Ajab Khan, Naseer Ahmed, Ahtisham, Abdul Aziz, Asmatullah and Ainuddin combined for the men’s title as they finished ahead of Army at the Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University Hall.

Wapda’s Laiba Zia, Fakhrunisa, Mehrunisa and Naz Gul took the women’s crown with Railways bagging silver.

The fight for gold at the Quetta Golf Club looks too close to call heading into Sunday’s final round with Army’s Shahzaib Jahan and Wapda Salman Jehangir tied atop the leaderboard at 216, one stroke ahead of Nouman Ilyas of Army and two ahead of both Wapda’s Hussain Hamid and Mohammad Arsalan.

In women’s play, Army’s Parkha Ijaz (151) leads her sister Rimsha by a stroke after two rounds.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2023