PESHAWAR: Games for peace ends here as Pakistan Army lifted the overall 31st National Games trophy for 24 times in a row, Wapda got runners title with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa awarded fair play trophy.Involving around 7000 athletes and officials from across the country an impressive closing ceremony was concluded at Qayyum Sports Complex with Pakistan Army clinched the overall first position in the week-long extravaganza by capturing 4276 points, followed by WAPDA with 3599 points and Navy with 1239 points grabbed the overall third place.The Pakistan Army took 219 runs, including 110 gold medals, 74 silver and 35 bronze medals, followed Pakistan Wapda with 201 medals with 87 gold medal, 56 silver medals and 58 bronze medals, Pakistan Navy took 47 medals with 11 gold medal, 18 silver medals and 18 bronze medal.
Besides the medals honors, Kiran Khan, a record holder swimmer who took 13 gold medal and created a record. Earlier she had a record of 10 gold medal besides her Maryum Babar was also part of the presentation ceremony who created in the triple jump. She had a record of 11.53 which she improved with 11.66.The closing spectacle was also graced by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti. Also present were the KP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, KP Sports Minister and the chairman of the organizing committee Syed Aaqil Shah, the president of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Lt Gen (retd) Syed Arif Hassan and the POA Abdul Khaliq Khan and the representatives of different national sports federations and the KP Olympic Association. The ceremony started in traditional manner with the recitation of the Holy Quran by Noor Jabeen of Agriculture Public School, who had a position in whole of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and hailing from Mardan, followed by national anthem presented by the little girls of Agriculture Public School, followed by a national song ‘Is Parcham Ke Say Tale Hum Aik Han Hum Aik Hain,’ followed by assembling of participating contingents, the champions Army, PAF, AJK,Balochistan, FATA, Islamabad, NWFP, Pakistan Navy, Police, HEC, Punjab, Railways,WAPDA and the hosts KP.
There were spectacular display of bands and then the march past from the kids of the local schools further enhanced the beauty of the ceremony. As the chief guest the KP Chief Minister formally announced the Games closed, a tremendous display of fireworks was held which illuminated the whole environment.During the prize distribution ceremony the chief guest gave away the 61-year old Quaid-e-Azam Trophy to the overall winners Army. Pakistan’s leading lady swimmer and the silver-medallist of the South Asian Games Kiran Khan from Army was declared the best swimmer for taking 13 gold medals and was awarded a special trophy.Another athlete Maryum Babar of Pakistan Wapda created a record in triple jump also got special prize.WAPDA lifted both the men’s and women’s judo trophies. In women events,WAPDA ended at the top with 96 points which they captured by virtue of five gold and two silver while Army finished second with 79 points with three gold, two silver and two bronze. Punjab ended third with 50 points with three silver and three bronze.
In men’s WAPDA topped with 111 points which they secured by virtue of seven gold and one bronze, followed by Army (60 points) with two gold, one silver and three bronze and Railways (56 points) with a gold, three silver and two bronze.Similarly, Army clinched boxing overall trophy with 100 points which they got by virtue of five gold, two silver and a bronze while WAPDA remained runners-up with 70 points with three gold, one silver and three bronze. Navy ended third with 45 points which included three silver and three bronze.They were followed by PAF (2 silver, 5 bronze), Sindh (1 gold, 1 silver),Police (1 gold), Railways (1 silver, 2 bronze), Punjab (3 bronze), Balochistan and HEC with one bronze each.Sindh’s Aamir Khan (64kg) was declared the best boxer. At Mardan Army clinched baseball gold with a 11-9 victory over WAPDA.
Police claimed bronze medal.WAPDA won volleyball gold after beating PAF in their last league encounter.The set scores remained 25-17, 25-18 and 25-13. Navy bronze while Police Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa finished fifth after inflicting an upset 3-0 defeat on the defending champions Police in their last group match at the PSB Coaching Centre Gymnasium.The score remained 25-23, 25-18 and 25-21. With the loss, Police finished sixth out of six teams.Ayesha from WAPDA lifted table tennis women’s singles gold after beating her teammate Louiza Irshad 4-3 in the final while the pair of Salim Abbas and Yousuf Raja from WAPDA won the men’s doubles table tennis final when they overwhelmed Asim Munir and Faryal 3-0 with the set scores of 11-4, 11-9 and 11-7.WAPDA also claimed gold medals in the men’s doubles and mixed doubles and in team events.Army also swept away swimming events with 445 points which they got with 16 gold, 13 silvers and four bronze.
They were followed by WAPDA (1gold, 4 silver, 11 bronze, 200points), Navy (1 silver, 2 bronze, 77points), HEC (2gold,1 silver, 1 bronze, 74points), Sindh 1bronze, 21points) while Punjab, KP, Balochistan and Islamabad ended without medal.The other position holders are HEC got fourth position with five gold, 12 silver, 11 bronze with a total of 28 medals, followed by Balochsitan with 3 gold,6 silver, 13 bronze with 22 medals, Sindh got sixth position with four gold, 14 silver and 26 bronze, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with two golds, three silver and 21 bronze medals, Pakistan Railways 4 gold, 13 silver and 31 bronze medals,Police with two gold, seven silver and 15 bronze got 9th position, followed by PAF with 2 gold, 9 silver 20 bronze, Punjab got one gold, 17 silver and 32 bronze, Islamabad got 2 silver, 10 bronze while FATA in a token participation took one silver and three bronze in Taekhwondo and one bronze medal in Wushu – APP
