Pakistan’s Naseem becomes fastest woman in South As

DHAKA: Pakistan’s Naseem Akhtar created history on Monday by becoming the fastest woman of the region when she won the 100-metre sprint gold medal at the South Asian Games.

“It is a great moment for me to have brought glory to the country in my event after the poor showing by our national cricket team and especially since our athletics standards have been poor of late,” Naseem Akhtar said

The 22-year-old from Rawalpindi clocked 11.81seconds, 0.12seconds ahead of Sri Lanka’s Pramila Priyadarshani, to bag her first gold medal before a strong crowd at Bangabandhu National Stadium.

Wearing national green tights, she led the field among the eight runners after her easy qualification for the finals.

“I had forgotten the world for six months and trained really very, very hard under my coach Maqood Ahmed to achieve this,” Naseem Akhtar said.

“It is a great moment for me to have brought glory to the country in my event after the poor showing by our national cricket team and especially since our athletics standards have been poor of late,” she added.

“I hope my performance will inspire the young athletes to become professionals.”

Both 100-metre results turned out to be upsets as Shehan Saearuwan of Sri Lanka toppled India’s Abdul Najeeb Qureshi who had previously won the 200-metre event.

Meanwhile, for Naseem Akhtar to win the 100-metre sprint was a historic moment as no Pakistani woman had achieved this feat in 26-year history of the regional games.

Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Chief Lt.Gen (Rtd) Syed Arif Hasan congratulated Naseem for her historic performance and announced a one-lakh-rupee (Rs.100,000) cash prize for her remarkable achievement.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Liaquat Ali took the bronze medal in the 100-metre dash by clocking 10.63 seconds, finishing behind Sri Lankan and Indian athletes.

Pakistan, favourites for 4×100-metre relay, finished third behind India and Sri Lanka. The Pakistani quartet comprising Ali Aamir Murad, Tahir Shafique, Ali Muhammad and Asad clocked three minutes 16.73 seconds to bag the bronze medal.

Earlier, Zafar Iqbal put in a high-class performance in the triple-jump event with a superb effort of 16.5 metres to beat Indian rival by nearly three quarters of a metre to pick up his second athletics gold after Basharat Ali snapped the discus gold on Saturday.

Mohsin Ali won the 110-metre hurdles by clocking the distance in 14.56 seconds, beating Sandeep Parmer (14.76seconds) and Muthuswamy (14.88seconds), both of India.

In the javelin throw event, Muhammad Imran won the silver medal with a 73.38-metre long throw as Kashinnath Naik of India won the gold medal and his compatriot Samarjeet Singh took bronze.

Pakistan quartet of Naseem, Javaria Hassan, Nazia Nazir and Sadaf Siddiqui won the women’s 4×100 relay race by covering the distance in 47.16 seconds. India took the gold and Bangladesh silver medal.

Pakistan has so far won four gold, two silver and four bronze medals in the track and field events. —APP

Results
100m (Women)
1. Naseem Hameed (Pakistan) 11.81 sec
2. Pramila Priyadarshani (Sri Lanka) 11.93 sec
3. Achala Shalika Dias (Sri Lanka) 12.12 sec

100m (Men)
1. Shehan Saearuwan (Sri Lanka) 10.46 sec
2. Abdul Najeeb Qureshi (India) 10.56 sec
3. Liaqat Ali (Pakistan) 10.63 sec

4x100m relay
1. India 3 min: 08.62 sec
2. Sri Lanka 3 min: 16.70 sec
3. Pakistan 3 min 16.73 sec

Triple jump (Men)
1. Zafar Iqbal (Pakistan) 16.5m
2. Surab (India) 15.27m
3. Nishan Kumara (Sri Lanka) 15.19m

110m hurdles (Men)
1. Mohsin Ali (Pakistan) 14.56 sec
2. Sandeep Parmer (India) 14.76 sec
3. P. Muthuswamy (India) 14.88 sec

Javelin throw (Men)
1. Kashinnath Naik (India) 74.27m
2. Muhammad Imran (Pakistan) 73.38m
3. Samarjeet Singh (India) 71.65m

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