ISLAMABAD - Punjab became crowned champions of the 1st Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Provincial Games, after winning 61 gold, 43 silver and 32 bronze medals on the fourth and last day of the events here at the Pakistan Sports Complex on Tuesday.
Punjab were way ahead from others, as they collected total 136 medals with whopping 2,641 points, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bagged second position with 20 gold, 17 silver and 41 bronze medals with total 78 medals and 1,331 points, Sindh finished third with 18 gold, 22 silver and 33 bronze medals with total 73 medals and 1,285 points. Hosts Islamabad finished fourth with 3 gold, 14 silver and 25 bronze medals with total 42 medals and 897 points.
Interestingly, Punjab always remained way ahead with the others, but it was Sindh, who were occupying the second spot till the last day but KP managed to turn the tables and snatched second spot with wonderful performances on the last day.
Punjab dominated athletics event with 21 gold, won women’s 400m, men’s and women’s 4x100m relay, Sindh’s Abdul Moied and Punjab’s Turab Zehra after winning gold in 100m race, also managed to win 200m race gold and were declared the best athletes. In women 200m race, Bisma of Punjab won gold, Benish also from Punjab won silver and Almas of Sindh won bronze medal. In men’s 400m race, Umar Saddat of Sindh won gold, Qasim Ijaz Punjab silver and Nasir Ali Punjab won bronze medal while in women’s 4x100m relay, Khaidja, Rabia, Alisha and Turab won gold for Punjab, Sindh won silver and Islamabad earned bronze.
In men’s 4x100m relay, Shafiq, Ahmed Saeed, Laiq and Abdullah won gold for Punjab, KP earned silver and Fata bronze. In men’s 200m race, Abdul Moied won gold for Sindh, M Laiq silver for Punjab and M Shafiq (Punjab) bronze. In men’s triple jump event, Adnan Jahangir won gold for Punjab, Zeeshan (Punjab) silver and Shoaib Khan (KP) bronze. Punjab completely dominated table tennis events and won six gold medals in men’s, women’s mixed doubles and doubles. KP won men’s volleyball gold after defeating Fata in the final, while Punjab won women’s final after defeating Islamabad 3-1 in the final.
A huge upset was witnessed in the men’s singles tennis final, when national ranked player Arham Attique Khan was beaten by KP’s Barkatullah while Rida Khan of Sindh won ladies singles gold after defeating Hania Naveed also of Sindh in the final. KP won the team event gold after beating Punjab 2-1 in the final, while Sindh won women’s team event gold after defeating Punjab 2-0 in the final. Punjab grabbed both male and female hockey gold medals with women’s winning gold after thrashing Islamabad 11-0. Balochistan finished second and Sindh claimed third position. The men’s hockey title was clinched by Punjab who beat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 6-5 on penalty shootouts.
PSB failed to arrange a chief guest and kept on announcing different names. Earlier, it was announced that Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif will be the chief guest at the closing ceremony, but later, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s name was announced. Then it was Ahsan Iqbal, who was announced as the chief guest, but finally Ishaq Dar graced the final as chief guest and announced Rs 100 million for Liaqat Gymnasium upgradation.